Winchester in Training
by warr2654
Summary: May contain spoilers! Rating for safety. Sam, Dean, and their little sister Ashley are back and now joined by a Max. When a hairy situation rains down on the growing family, how will they be able to handle the family business while also protecting everyone in it? Will Ashley remain safe or will Max break her heart yet again? Will the boys stay safe or will they be hurt?
1. Chapter 1

_**A Knight in Black Armor**_

**POV Change so watch out for section headings!**

Ashley was sitting on the couch with the laptop balancing on her knees by the time Ben finally woke up. Sam, Dean, and Max were in the front yard putting up a fence so Justin can go play without being watched by any demons that may happen to be in their neighborhood. "Did you find another case yet?" Ben yawned as he poured himself some lukewarm coffee left in the pot.

"Uh, maybe. Couple hikers went missing up in Julian" Ashley mumbled as she closed the lid to the laptop and placed in on her lap.

"So, what could it be?" Max panted from the door way where Sam and Dean we're taking off their muddy shoes.

"Wendigo, right?" Ben asked the Winchesters, trying to show Max he knows a lot more than he will.

"Yup" Ashley answered "you three aren't coming in here like that! Go around back, I'll bring you some spare clothes" she explained, getting up from the couch. She padded her way slowly upstairs to grab 3 pairs of jeans and a couple tank tops. When she finally came out into the hot California heat she found a Max laughing with her brothers and a bottle of water each. "Here" she replied politely as she tossed the clothes on the outdoor table next to them before turning to walk back into the air conditioning.

"Wait, Killer" Dean said, catching her wrist.

"Yeah?"

"You sure you want to go on this one? You seem a little, uh"

"-bitchie." Max finished for Dean "You alright, babe?"

Ashley didn't try and pull away from Dean, nor did she try look up at the three men now giving her a very nervous look. "Yeah I'm coming, but I am going to work out a bit first."

"I'll uh, I will come with" Sam quickly volunteered with a smile. He was unsure how he could help Ashley best but knew he needed to right now being as he was the person who usually help Ashley relax when she got like this.

"No, I wanna go alone this time. I'll be back" she said as she walked away from the concerned looks she was getting mostly from her brothers.

* * *

**Max**

Ashley has been gone for almost an hour and it seemed I was the only one worried about her. "What's happened since she found out about what I did?" I asked Dean, who was sitting down in the shade while Sam and I continued to dig holes for the posts.

"A lot" Sam responded shortly while Dean only continued to stare down the road.

"Like what?"

"She got sent to Hell with Crowley for over a month" Dean croaked out.

"Crowley, that's the demon that's obsessed with here right?"

"Correct" came the answer from a man in a trench coat who just appeared next to Dean in the shade. Sam and Dean did not seem fazed by this man; in fact they both gave him a quick nod then continued with what they were doing for a couple silent moments. It SSS natural that the trench coated man would be next to speak, but instead he stood there staring at me with piercing eyes and a lost look on his face.

"What is it, Cas?" Dean grumbled up to the strange man when he said nothing for a couple more moments.

"It's Ashley. I am sorry but she has been taken" he said flatly, without tearing his gaze away from me yet.

"Wait, who the hell is this?" I barked at Sam once Dean had stood up and started firing questions at the man.

"Castiel, the angel we mentioned" Sam sighed "he's the one who pulled the three of us out of Hell."

"What happened to her, Cas?" Dean asked again.

"I'm not sure. She was running, I could hear the litany going on in her head then someone snatched her and the litany of worries stopped."

"We'll find her, dammit" Dean growled once Castiel stopped talking and continued to stare at him.

"W-what about her cellphone?" I piped in. She never let that thing out of her sight while she was with me for those months, maybe she is the same way when she is with her brothers.

"Right, she usually takes it" Sam huffed as he ran inside to most likely get some GPS turned on.

* * *

**Ashley**

My head was throbbing and I was tied up to a chair in a musty hotel room. "H-hello?" I tried to call out, but all that escaped was a squeak just barely loud enough to be distinguished from the many rats scampering round my feet. "Castiel" I whispered to myself "please come help me. I-I don't know where I am." I waited for the flutter of wings to tell me he came, but instead I heard his gruff voice in my head. "I cannot. The room is warded but Sam was able to track your location. Max and Dean are joining him in the rescue while I watch the children."

I sighed at the angel's response and started to focus on the voices walking towards the door in front of me. "It appears the littlest Winchester is awake finally" a young red head purred as she walked in.

"W-who are you?" I said trying to play the role of most terrified girl.

"Abaddon, knight of Hell" she smiled as she flashed her black eyes to me.

"Wait, what the hell is a knight?" Abaddon smiled down at me and crouched so her face was as close to mine.

"Doesn't matter. All that does it that I am going to use you to get to Crowley."

"Why?"

"Cuz I want the throne to myself, and he has a thing for you, little Winchester" she smirked.

"Not on my watch" Dean's voice rang from behind her broad shoulders. He was wielding the demon blade, soaked in blood and dripping in a small pool at his feet. Sam was standing behind him with the angel blade as Max stood next to him with a pale face and a shotgun in his shaking hands.

"Aw, big and bigger Winchester came swooping in to save the baby, how sweet" she cooed. "But who is Mr. Petrified behind you?"

"Family friend" Sam said as he followed our brother deeper in to the motel room.

"But you didn't bring the angel friend" she shinned as she turned to face me again as if it was my fault he was not here.

"He's too good to play in the mud with Knights of Hell" I spat at her while Sam held the silver blade to her neck and Dean sprang foreword to untie me.

* * *

"She's not going anywhere" Abaddon laughed as she flung Sam off her back and threw Dean away from the chair Ashley was tied to.

"We aren't gonna leave her!" Max shouted as he fired a shot into Abaddon's chest.

"Not going to work, lover boy" she said with a wink. She snapped her fingers and made Max disappear to who knows where.

"No, dammit! Leave them alone," Ashley shouted at the red head "do what you want with me. Just please don't hurt them." Abaddon stopped and allowed a demonic smile to spread across her face while she turned to face Ashley.

"No Ash, don't do this" Sam pleaded with his younger sister from his place on the wall.

"Don't worry Sammy, I'll return her alive and well when I am done with her" she said with a wink before snapping her fingers again and teleporting both her and Ashley out of the room.

**AN: New story and already off to a rocky start...oh no! How could I do that to you guys?! Well hold on, because there will be another chapter posted soon. Enjoy in the mean time, tell your friends about this series and as always tell me what you think in the reviews! ~Ash ;)**


	2. Chapter 2: Bearer of News

_**Bearer of News**_

**POV CHANGE so check section headings!**

As soon as Dean barged through the front door, he was met by a worried Ben and angry Max. Apparently Abaddon had zapped him back home, which meant she knew about the house and probably Ben and Justin. "Where is she?" Ben blurted once Sam had followed his older brother in.

"A knight of Hell poofed her somewhere" Sam answered for Dean, who was telling Cas to ward Justin against prying eyes.

"How the fuck could you let her take Ashley again? How is this protecting her!?" Max yelled in Sam's face once he heard the news.

"Back off, buddy" Dean growled from right behind the burly bar tender in an attempt to keep Sam from getting punched in the face.

"No! You back off" Max bellowed as he turned to face the sudden competition behind him. "You let my girl get taken-"

"Wait, did you just say 'my girl'" Dean laughed while the anger in his belly began to rise up to the surface. "The same 'girl' you cheated on a week after she left? The same 'girl' you didn't know got raped until you tried to do her and got knocked out? You don't know shit about 'your girl', so why don't you go sit your ass down while you're still allowed under my roof!"

Ben never saw Dean get so mad at another person before, and it still made him smile to know Dean didn't like this guy as much as he thought. But of course that smile on Ben's face quickly disappeared once he remembered Ashley was still being held hostage and they had no idea where she was at this moment. Once again, Dean's voice was the anchor that brought down his spirits. "Alright, Sam" Dean barked once Max had gotten out of his face and shuffled into the living room.

"Yeah" he sighed from the same spot he was when Max climbed up on his high horse.

"Check Ashley's phone again. Maybe this Abaddon bitch doesn't know she's got a phone on her" he ordered as he picked up his own. "I am going to call Bobby, see if he's heard of a knight of hell, but start researching anyways, Ben."

"Yes sir" he said as he ran into the study they made upstairs with the books Bobby gave them a while ago.

"What can I do?" Max muttered from the living room, where his tail was still tucked in between his legs.

"Go get food" Sam and Dean barked at the same time.

* * *

**Ashley**

I was tied up to a chair again, but this time I was in a different room with the red head staring at me with her black eyes. "Finally the human wakes up" she chuckled. "Listen, I don't intend on hurting you, just using you as bait. So call your dogs off" she said as she tossed me a phone.

"How am I gonna be used as bait?" I sighed as the phone landed in my lap.

"Have you summon Crowley, say some lovely words, and then let me kill him" she shrugged with a smile.

"H-how are you gonna kill him?" I said as I dialed Sam's number, being as Dean was probably talking to Bobby.

"Don't worry about that dear, I'll get you away from Crowley when I'm ready."

I hit send once she said I'd be zapped out in time. "Yeah" Sam answered on the second ring.

"Sammy" I whispered into the phone "thank god you answered. I-I got good news."

_Ash, you okay? _He practically shouted through the receiver.

"Fine, you need to just listen, okay?" I started as I put the phone on speaker.

_Uh, okay _ came the confused response from my older brother.

"Abaddon is trying to kill Crowley, so all I gotta do is be bait then she'll zap me out."

_And if she doesn't?_ Sam replied with a hint of annoyance behind his words.

"We are in a motel on the beach front" Abaddon said into the phone "now goodbye largest Winchester!"

* * *

Dean was pacing back and forth waiting for Ashley to pop back into the house while Sam and Castiel were stalking out of the motel she was being held in. Max had fallen asleep on the couch while watching a kid's show about ninja turtles. "Dammit Ash, where are you?" he sighed to himself right as a pop filled the living room.

"De?" she whispered behind her pacing brother.

"Ash, thank God" Dean said as he shot Castiel a thought to tell Sam to head home.

"Ashley, you're home" Max said as he stood up from the couch.

"You alright, Killer?" Dean said, stepping closer to his now swaying sister.

"No, I'm getting another one" she managed out before crumbling to the floor in a sweating, shaking heap.

**AN: Hope everyone enjoyed! Tell me what you think in a review! It can be anything..._I don;t like how this character talks, I love how this character moves, I hate that something is always upsetting Dean, I want less to happen to Ashley..._ANYTHING!  
Now we are back on regular scheduled updates, check back every other day or so and there will be a new chapter for you to read! In the mean time, tell everyone you know about _Big Brother Winchester_!**


	3. Chapter 3: Trust Issues

_**Trust Issues**_

Castiel stood guard over the Winchester house for a couple days while Ashley continued to have her visions. No matter how he tried to block them from Ashley's mind, they were too strong and he was unable to completely expel the onslaught of memories. While Ashley rested close by to either Dean or Max, Castiel investigated the claim that Crowley had killed Crowley for good. _I am sure Ashley needs to hear Crowley is gone, but I cannot deceive Dean again, he just started trusting me again _the angel thought as he flew one more time around the rough roof, checking for any demonic signs.

Castiel continued to check in on the Winchesters while he listened in to the angel radar about the demonic omens popping up around San Diego, but as Castiel had hoped it was only the common black eyed jerks trying to ruin their small chance at a happy life. The same black eyed jerks they could easily take care of. Upon figuring that out, Castiel shot a thought down to Sam to ensure him they were fine for now and to rest for now. "Good, thank you Cas" Sam answered back to the angel as he wandered down stairs to pour Ashley a drink and to check on how everyone was doing.

* * *

Dean had barely moved from the couch where Ashley had curled up after the first vision days ago. She had curled up holding Max's smooth hand to her heart and with her head resting on Dean's leg. "What's the vision about?" Max whispered to Dean from the floor and over his shoulder.

"Her damn trip to hell. Look, Sam's back, you should go. Sure she'll call when she's normal again" Dean spat as Sam walked in the door alone.

"Fine," Max scoffed "damn you're an ass". As he stood up stiffly, he ran a hand along Ashley's hips and up to her waist. He bent down close to her exposed ear and whispered "I'll come by tomorrow" before planting a tender kiss on her temple.

"Thanks, Maxie" she whispered as he walked out of the living room and towards the front door. Sam came over and handed Ashley a glass with Fireball and a couple of ice cubes. "You okay, Little One?"

"Did she get the son of a bitch?" she mumbled out after a big sip from her glass.

"Hah, yeah. It looks like it so far; Cas confirmed it for right now."

"Good, then I 'm going to bed" she said after finishing her drink in one more gulp. The alcohol helped blur the visions that kept harassing her, but she never seemed to get enough before bed time to keep them away all night.

"Are we sure he's not coming after Ashley again?" Dean asked his little brother.

"I think so, but now we have to worry about Abaddon. She knows about the house, and therefore probably our lives."

"Yup, that's what I am thinking" Dean said into his hands. "Go check on Ash real fast, I'll see if I can stick the angel on expert warding and tracking."

"Alright, I'll check the traps and salt lines before heading up" Sam said, pushing his weepy brother of the couch.

"Bitch" Dean shot over his shoulder as he righted himself.

"Jerk!" Sam hollered back as he went to check the windows.

* * *

_Cas, can you get your feathery tail into high gear and check to see if Abaddon is around? _Dean thought up to the angel as he wandered around the kitchen, looking for some chips to go along with the cold beer. "Of course, Dean" Castiel responded, happy to help Dean in any way possible. In all honestly, Castiel could not stand to disappoint Dean in any way. With Sam at least Castiel can afford a few unanswered prayers and undelivered messages; Ashley was harder than Sam to disappoint just because of the bond she shared with his favorite human.

Before Dean could finish his beer, Castiel was able to track down Abaddon to a small town close to a demonic hotspot in an old cemetery. It was good to see Abaddon was leaving Dean's fragile and growing family alone, but at the same time Castiel was unsure on how he felt about his latest discovery. _Your family is fine; however a couple civilians are not. I will be out of reach for some time _Castiel sent down into Dean's buzzing brain.

"Thanks Cas" Dean sighed as he drained the last quarter of his beer down as fast as possible. It was bed time for Dean and Castiel needed to go save some lives, Winchester style.

* * *

Ashley was still awake when Dean came into the room, but she was sure he thought she was already asleep. Dean quickly took off his battered jeans and pulled on a pair of black athletic shorts. Next he pulled his green t-shirt off and turned on the bathroom light and left the door open only a sliver so Ashley didn't get scared.

Dean climbed onto the lifted bed and collapsed on top of the sheets since it was a hot night in Southern California and Ashley would roast him all night.

"You okay, De?" Ashley whispered as she rolled over to face him.

"Abaddon knows about us, where we live- yet she is out torturing town's people" Dean replied.

"She promised she wouldn't hurt us, as long as we left her alone" Ashley explained as she propped herself up on an elbow.

"We cannot go trusting these black eyed bitches again!"

"Just like you can't trust Max again" she spat at her brother as she rolled back to give Dean her back.

"Cuz he's a pig! He can't keep it in his pants!"

"Shut your father crap up! I'm an adult now, Dean! Just let me make my own choice, for once" she yelled as she jumped out of bed.

"Whoa, where are you going?" he said sitting up in bed.

"Down to Max's" she said as she headed for the door and struggled to strangle a vision from coming out her subconscious. Max only lived down the street in a small two bedroom version of the house she lived in with her family. Being as Ashley had a key to his place, she let herself in and padded down the narrow hall to the master bedroom.

Once Ashley cracked open the door, she could hear Max's loud snores being muffled by a pillow. With a smile she slipped onto the bed next to her boyfriend and gave him a kiss on the temple, just like he did before he left. He always woke up with Ashley did that, and tonight was no different. "Babe? What are you doing here?" he yawned.

"Can't I spend the night with you every once in a while?" she sighed as she slip into Max's strong arms and gave him another kiss, but this time on his chest right over his heart.

"Anytime" he whispered as he drifted back to sleep with Ashley curled up in his arms with her lips still pressed into his beating chest.

When Ashley woke up, she found Max was already up but left a note saying he had to show face at work early today, but he would stop by after work if she was up for it. Max had secured a job as a bartender/waiter at a local Outback Steak House, so he could afford to keep the house he just bought. "Guess I gotta go face Dean now" she said to herself as she snatched one of Max's hoodies to walk home in.

As soon as she opened the front door, Ashley was faced by Dean making coffee. "Want some?" he asked politely as if nothing had happened.

"Yes please" Ashley replied as she started to peel a banana from the bowl on the counter. Dean watched as Ashley started out into space and slowly ate her banana. "You're right" Dean mustered out as the coffee started to brew.

"About what?" Ashley asked as she continued to only stare only at the banana peel on the counter.

"Giving the black eyed bitch and Max another chance."

"You don't mean that" Ashley chuckled "you're just saying that cuz you need to feel better." Dean met Ashley's glance and opened up his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Justin coming down for breakfast. "Morning, bud" Ashley said as the boy wandered over sleepily to her.

"Hi" he mumbled as he climbed onto Ashley's lap. "Can I have breakfast?"

"Yeah, I'll get you some cereal" Dean said as he got a bowl down and poured some Lucky Charms in it. "We'll finish this later" he said as he brought over the bowl as well as Ashley's coffee.

"Yeah, whatever Dean" she acknowledged.

**AN: as requested, some more Cas thrown in there! I'm trying to add more to the parts I already have written out, so bare with me for a bit! Hope this chapter is okay for everyone! If not, tell me what is wrong with it, I want to hear! Sorry this chapter took so long to post, I got a couple things going on with me personally right now. Stay tuned for more though! ~Ash**


	4. Chapter 4: Bible Stories

_** Bible Stories**_

Castiel watched the two Winchesters interact with each other and was surprised to see so much animosity between them. Ashley was quick to anger and Dean was too stubborn to see he was in the wrong, but they usually were so forgiving to each other, what made this squabble different? Perhaps it was the fact they had children now, perhaps it was the notion that Ashley had found herself another man and Dean was no longer the male figure in her life. Castiel's gears were spinning and trying to further understand his favorite humans, but the more he observed Ashley and how she interacted with Justin, the more Castiel began to speculate as to where the frustration originated from.

* * *

Dean shadowed Ashley's every move since she came home from Max's house and dropped zJustin off at school. He knew he hurt hi sister, but there was no way Dean was ever going to trust Max again, similar to how he would never trust Abaddon. As soon as Ashley walked back into the house from dropping Justin off she was confronted by Dean.

"What?" she breathed out once her heart rate went back to a level rate.

"You know I hate doing this, but uh we gotta talk" he said taking a step back.

"Like hell we do" she said storming past him.

"Please, dammit Ash! I didn't mean what I said." Ashley spun around and only stared at her brother, waiting for him to go on with his rant. "I guess I shoulda listened to you and your gut."

"Your damn right" Ashley replied not backing down from the sibling throw down Dean started. "So why dontcha just back down and let me take care of myself and my family."

Dean saw Ashley was getting ready to slap him, so he quickly closed the space and grabbed her arms to pin them to her sides. "You can hit me once we get inside and out of sight of the neighbors"Dean explained with a hint of pride hidden in his voice.

* * *

Castiel peered over at Dean and Ashley arguing. He had clocked himself from human sight and stood right next to the siblings. He watched with a furrowed brow at how they fought; Ashley remained steady while Dean allowed his anger to flood his brain. Of course Ashley was tensing her muscles, ready to punch Dean, but she was still more calm on the inside then Dean.

_These humans confuse me, how can the calmer person tense more than the angry human, who remains level headed and continues to think in a logical manner? _

* * *

Ashley was curled up against Max's side while Sam and Dean silently put up the wards against a Knight of hell Bobby was able to track down. "You three only know one thing can kill them, right?" Bobby's gruff voice said through Ashley's phone that was balanced on Max's knee.

"Ben said something about a 'first blade'" Ashley remembered out loud as she snuggled down closer to her boyfriends warm body heat.

"Right, and it's got to be coupled with the 'Mark of Cain' to work."

"What the heck is a Mark of Cain, Bobby?" Sam asked from the kitchen, where he was cracking open four beers.

"Cain, as in Cain and Abel?" Max asked the old man on the phone.

"Yup."

"So, this mark" Max continued "is the one God gave him to warn others of what he did to his brother?"

"Well someone paid attention in Sunday school" Bobby praised.

"Alright, well how we gonna get this mark and blade thing?" Earn asked ass he plopped down in the open armchair, that also happened to be furthest from his still upset little sister.

"The mark is a curse, boy" Bobby barked into the phone "you best stay far from it."

"Ah, come one, Bobby" Dan begged, sounding like a little boy again "you can't just tempt me then slap my hand away!"

"Over my dead body" Bobby scolded as he ended the call. Ashley grabbed her phone off Max's knee and put her head down in its place while Sam and Dean bickered about what to watch.

"Mommy" Justin called from the top of the stairs "can you come read a story to me?"

"Sure Tiger, pick one out. I'll be right up" Ashley groaned as she pushed herself up to a seated position.

"Hah, never will get used to Ashley, the loved mother of two" Max joked as he kissed Ashley's cheek. "I'm gonna head home, see you there?"

"Maybe" she sighed "I'll just let myself in if I do."

"Alright, see you later, babe" he said to her as he stood up "thanks for the beers" he called over his shoulder to the two boys as he headed towards the door.

* * *

Once Justin had fallen asleep and Ashley had woken back up herself for where she dozed next to him, she wandered into her bathroom and turned on the shower. As she undressed slowly, her eyes caught on the many scars littering her stomach and arms. She wasn't pretty anymore, she was cut up and puckered- that's why Max went behind her back.

_No_ Castiel thought to himself as he observed the strong woman break down in front of her reflection _that is not why he slept with the blind bartender. _

As her tears started to fall, Ashley stepped into the hot shower and let the water burn her skin as it ran through her hair, down her back, and over her stoked face. The sobs coming from the bathroom caught Dean's attention from the bedroom, but he pretended to ignore them- until they started to get louder. "Ash, you okay?"

"Yeah" came the meek answer "I'll be out in a minute so you can piss."

"Don't matter" Dean answered sincerely as he flopped down onto his stomach on the bed. He closed his eyes to sleep and relaxed into the firm mattress he often shared with his little sister. Last night was the worst night of sleep in his life because his sister was not by his side, but tonight Dean planned ahead and brought in a full bottle of Whiskey to sip on whenever he woke up through the night.

**AN: Here is another chapter, once again sorry for the delay. Read, review, and enjoy! Tell me what you like and don't like, I won't be upset! ~Ash**


	5. Chapter 5: Marked

_**Marked**_

Dean's dreams were filled with childhood memories- before him and his siblings knew about the supernatural. Ashley was always a happy child and always followed Sam around, even if he was running and she was still crawling. Dean still spent most of his time taking good care of little Sammy and only gave the scraps to his Mother's splitting image. As Ashley grew up, she became aware Sam was the only one Dean really cared about and that made her stronger. It caused her to do more stupid things to get Dean's attention, it caused her to hate the culture of being a girl.

It wasn't until the night Ashley snuck out in high school that she felt like a Winchester to the two older men in her life. She wanted to go see a boy while she was in high school, but John was out on a hunt and Dean refused to let her go see him; so Ashley hot wired a car in the motel parking lot and tore off towards his house. She had dinner with his family and went into his bedroom to spend the night. After a couple of his father's beers, both teens were drunk and sleeping in his bed. Unfortunately, John turned out to be hunting the boy's werewolf for a father and found his daughter asleep in only her bra and underwear with a younger werewolf staring at her with hunger in her eyes. Dean was furious because of the flack he was now receiving from John for not taking better care of his little sister, Sam was just scared for his sister- she was drunk and at risk of being killed, or worse turned into one of the very creatures they spent their lives hunting.

Dean began to toss and turn remembering that night and dreaming of what could have happened to his sister if their Dad hadn't gotten there in time. The more he remained in that dream, the closer to the edge of the bed Ashley was being pushed to, but she understood not to be annoyed. "Dean, stop" she groaned as she woke up out of her own dream of what life would have been if Sm and Sean never found her at the biker's bar with Max. When Dean began to breath heavier is when she finally woke up and rolled over to face her brother. "Hey! Dean, wake up" she shouted at full volume. "You're okay, snap out of it dude" she finished as his breathing went back to normal and he slowly opened his glossy eyes.

"Sorry" he mumbled as he rolled back onto his stomach and as far away from Ashley as the bed allowed.

"Fine" she huffed as she threw back the sheets and jumped out of the bed.

"Wait, Ash. Where are you going now?" Dean asked as he pushed his tired body onto his forearms.

"Sleep on the damn couch. Apparently I'm not wanted or needed, so I'm going to wait till morning to make up my own damn room somewhere!" Ashley said before slamming the door behind her.

"Shit" Dean sighed as he followed his sister out. "Ashley, listen to me!"

"No Dean, I hear you loud and clear."

"Obviously not or you'd be in a bed."

"You're a hypocrite! You preach family, but you don't trust me or wanna be anywhere near me as long as I'm with Max. So fuck off Dean, consider this me storming out of the Impala" she spat out around tears.

* * *

Watching these two humans fight broke Castiel's non existent heart. Ashley was trying so hard to keep her relationship with Dean the same while she grew the one with Max again, but Dean was making it too hard on her. As more tears began to flow down her cheeks, Castiel sent a comforting touch down to her. He knew Ashley felt the presence of something on her shoulder by how her body language changed, but that was all he could do with Dean there as well. Castiel always felt he had to be most loyal to Dean as he was given the job as guardian angel, but right now Dean Winchester was wrong.

* * *

Ashley woke up to the smell of coffee and eggs being put down in front of her. She also felt a person standing over her, but the energy emitting off that person was calm, so she continued to rest, until she heard her name being called. "Still sleeping here" she mumbled into the pillow.

"Ash please" the voice said again, with desperation dripping off every syllable.

"Why, what?"

"I could use some advice right now" Ben said as he sat down on the floor by Ashley's hands.

"With what, buddy?" Ashley asked as she ran a hand though his thick black hair. She continued to massage his scalp while Ben thought about how to braoch the topic with Ashley.

"Do I tell you Dean found a way to get the Mark of Cain or not?" he quickly asked, not sure how to actually bring up the topic and loosing all confidence the longer he waited

"Wait, what! Where is he now, Ben?" Ashley blurted, now fully awake.

"On his way to Missouri to confront Cain, I-I think."

"Get your ass in the car, Ben" Ashley barked as she threw herself off the couch and grabbed the eggs and coffee Ben had put in travel containers. _Smart boy_ she thought as she raced towards the door. Ashley didn't even bother changing, but was impressed, again, to see Ben had already packed two travel bags and had flip flops lying out for her to slip in to. "When did he leave?" Ashley asked once she pulled the car out of the driveway and began racing east.

"Uh, an hour before I woke you up. Do you really end to go 90 here?"

"Yes Ben, this thing can kill Dean!" Ben nodded and sank down deeper into his seat. Ashley as right, Dean was going down a destructive road and going to get himself cursed all because she was dating someone. Ben reminded silent as Ashley weaved in and out of traffic, trying to avoid all the slow drivers taking their mid-afternoon cruise. Ashley was taught how to drive by Dean and knew she was an excellent driver, but still once he saw the black beauty he couldn't help but feel relieved and excited he might live through this endeavor. "There he is!" Ben shouted when he spotted the the black Impala peeling off to a gas station.

"And that is why I went 90" Ashley chuckled as she accelerated even more to catch the black car before it finished at the station. She expertly maneuvered her car to block both lanes of the small highway and forced Dean to skid to a stop inches from colliding into her Mustang. "Stay in the car no matter what, got it?" Ashley said as she jumped out of the car to face Dean.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" he screamed in her face. His voice was deeper and more angry than she had ever heard it. "You said to consider you dead! Dead doesn't act stupid!"

"You're right, Dean! Why should I care that you're going to kill yourself...again!"

Dean wasn't shocked to hear that, but it made him even more upset then almost crashing his car. "Get out of here, Ash. Go home and stop caring about me! Your got Max to care for and I'm sure Justin would not be happy to see his mother wasn't watching him today!"

"I haven't cared about you in years, Dean-" Ashley started to explain, but was silenced by a punch straight in the jaw.

"Shit" Dean yelped once he felt his fist crash into Ashley's thin jaw bone. "I'm sorry! Why did I just- Ash, you okay?"

Ashley only laughed, as much as she could, "you dumbass already marked yourself, didn't you!"

**AN: Thank you all for reading, here is the next chapter! I am moving back to school this week, so I will post one more tomorrow and the next will be on Friday...sorry for the random postings..there is just so much going on here! As always tell me what you like, don't like, want to see more of! I am trying to add in as much Cas as I can!~Ash**


	6. Chapter 6: Loss of Faith

_**Loss of Faith**_

Ben knew Ashley was going to bait Dean in order to get him home, but he never expected Ashley to get punched. Ashley was right, Dean wasn't going to get the mark, he had already figured out how to get it, and now Dean was looking for the matching weapon! Ben couldn't sit and watch any longer, so instead he jumped out if the car through the driver side, disobeying Ashley's one order- he was use he'd hear the repercussions of this one in no time. "What the hell did you just do?" Ben yelled at Dean.

Dean turned to look at the shouting teen that up till now was waiting in the car patiently. "Ben," Ashley sighed impatiently "I told you to stay-".

"But he hit you! He never hits you, no matter what you do to him!"

"I told you no matter what! Ben" she said, gasping for air from the shock of the punch and the pain radiating across her full jaw mixed with the frustration of being disobeyed.

"Let me see it!" Ben turned on Dean, who was still staring at his sister like he was the cause of her death. Ben had stepped in front of Ashley defensively and now stared down his once upon a time hero.

"Ben, no" Dean and Ashley said at the same time. Dean was ashamed of the choice he made and did not want anyone to look at it, where as Ashley refused to believe Dean actually had received the mark.

"Just do it" Ben said again.

* * *

Sam was more upset then Ben had been when he saw the strange "F" on his brother's arm. "Why?" Sam asked in complete shock.

"Abaddon knows where we are. I had to do something to protect this family!"

"Like hell you do" Sam said as he slammed a fist down on the counter "you always think you're the only one capable of saving us! Pull your head out of your ass, Dean, we are 33 and 32!"

"Don't waste your breath, Sammy" Ashley laughed around the bag of peas on her jaw. "I've been telling him for years now."

Sam walked over to where Dean was standing in the kitchen doorway and landed a punch right to his cheek. "Go stay at Max's tonight" Sam growled over at Ashley "Dean and I are going to have a chat. Bring the kids over with you."

"Oh goody" Ashley piped up "then I'm going to stay. Don't start until after I drop off Justin's things!"

* * *

Castiel stood invisible in the corner of the kitchen and watched the Winchester's little meeting. _How could Dean willingly accept this curse upon himself? He of all people should know the burden Cain bore, why would he want more on his shoulders? _The more Castiel thought about it, the more he found Ashley to be the root cause to Dean's breakdown. Sam seemed to be the only Winchester with his head screwed on straight these past couple months, so Castiel decided to send Sam more patience and understanding before he started this "chat" he referred to. _I hope you are able to talk sense into Dean_ Castiel thought to Sam _and I will look into a way to remove the mark from his bloodstream._

* * *

Dean and Sam'a yelling had given Ashley a headache, but once Dean had seen the error in his way around the forming black eye, Ashley headed over to Max's. Justin was asleep on the floor in front of the TV and Max was snoring loudly on the couch. Ben was the only one waiting up for Ash, and it looked like he was about ready to pass out. "You should go to bed, we'll talk once I'm awake and sober" she said opening up Max's well stocked liquor cabinet. He had the best stuff- champagnes, aged whiskeys, authentic moonshine, and the occasional expensive bottle of whatever the hell the bar he tended for opened and knew wouldn't sell another drop.

"Can't I stay up with you? We don't have to talk about _that_" Ben pleaded as he watched Ashley struggle to stretch and grab the Fireball off one of the higher shelves.

"Only if you grab that down for me" she finally sighed, giving in to the sad puppy dog eyes Ben flashed her way.

"Deal. So did you ever date in high school?" Ben asked, breaking the tension radiating off Ashley

Ashley smirked over her shoulder and couldn't help but feel bad that Ben was missing out on everything a normal teenage boy goes through. "Dated one guy, but that doesn't mean I didn't, ahem, spend time with other boys. The guy I dated also took me to my prom, but I was only there for two weeks before John moved us again."

"Oh, so you didn't have uh-"

"Nope, got my GED while Daddy dearest drug us all around the country chasing scary stories." Ashley poured herself another shot as she realized Ben never had his girl interest over for dinner. "You wanna go back, huh?"

Ben looked up at his serogate mother, unsure if she would be mad to hear either answer right now. "Loaded question, babe" Max moaned from the couch, announcing he was awake now. Ben and Ashley both laughed at the perfect timing of Max waking up.

"He's right, but I swear it's not loaded this time" Ashley winked at Ben. "I'll support any answer" she said as she poured a third shot, spilling a little bit on the counter around the glass.

"Both, is there a way I can still go to prom?"

"Sure bud, I'll get Sammy on that tomorrow" Ashley said as she wrapped an arm around his neck and finished that shot she had just poured. "Max, can you pour for me? I'm starting to spill and I like how you tend."

"How many have you had, babe?" Max asked as he slid up behind his buzzed girlfriend and expertly poured her a new shot, not spilling a single drop even with Ashley leaning into him

"Now four" she purred as she drained the shot Max just poured for her.

"Things must have gone real bad" Ben chucked as he watched Max pour another shot for Ashley, again not spilling a single drop even though his eyes were carefully watching her.

"Told you Ben, when I am sober" Ashley said as she finished the last shot. Once she leaned back into Max behind her, Max began to steer her towards the master bedroom down the hall. "Sorry Ben, we'll talk more tomorrow kay?"

"Alright, night. Mom" Ben sighed as he bent to pick up Justin to carry him towards the guest bedroom. Ben came back down and pulled the blanket up to his chin and settled in for the night. Unfortunately he had no other choice but to hear everything going on in the bedroom. It sounded sloppy and quick, probably because of the amount of whiskey Ashley had drained on an empty stomach, but it still sounded like both parties enjoyed themselves enough.

**AN: Sorry it took so long, but good news! I am all moved back into my dorm so there should not be anything stopping me from posting on time. Hope you enjoyed, tell me everything! Good, bad, ugly, what you want more of, ANYTHING! ~Ash**


	7. Chapter 7: Ditched Again

_**Ditched Again**_

Ashley was sitting in the passenger seat of her Mustang while Sam drove down to Arizona, where a bunch of bodies began showing up with completely shriveled up brains. Ben jumped on the chance to go on another case and to get far away from Dean right now. Ashley still had a raging headache from her night of drinking so the ride was mostly quiet, however Ben asked a couple small things along the way just to keep the total silence at bay. "So you guys hunted one before?" he piped up from the back seat.

"Yup, remember the one in the mental ward?" Ashley chuckled as she remembered how strange that case was, even for them. She had never felt so uncomfortable with the role she was playing in order to find the son of a bitch, but it was to help crazy old Martin out, how could she back down?

"Unfortunately" Sam cringed. He had turned into a tortured angry soul in that ward once poisoned by the family nurse's touch upon check in.

"So what happened? It's not in your guys' journal. Thought you wrote everything down in there, Ash."

Ashley couldn't help but remember the plan to get into the mental hospital perfectly. Dean played the part of concerned brother while she played dotting sister to crazy, rambling, sleep deprived Sam- the true vessel for Lucifer once he has been released from his cage in Hell. The doctor did not hesitate to sign the three of them in once Dean and Ashley backed Sam up in his lunatic rumblings.

Once checked in and checked out by the nurse, Ashley wandered the halls to see if she could just sense who the evil was, but she never got far on that mission. "The wraith poisoned us almost immediately after being admitted and we began to go crazy" she explained to Ben, cutting out a bunch of details. "And I figured this was one story that could afford to stay out. It didn't favor anyone in the best of light."

"Well, what happened to you guys?" he continued to prod.

"I got violent and angry, Dean just shut down and focused only on hunting. Ash started hearing and seeing things" Sam finished for his little sister, who had placed her still throbbing head on his shoulder. "It was an interesting one. You see, we learned a lot about each other then because the wraith brings out the crazy already deep inside you."

"How'd you guys kill it?"

"Dean found a couple silver plated letter openers, the rest is history" Sam said, pulling into a motel built into a diner.

"So moral of the story, don't touch one. Got it" Ben chuckled as he climbed out of the back seat and stood next to Sam by the trunk. Sam was still thinking about what happened on the hunt at the hospital, even though it was years ago, while Ben shadowed him. He became John Winchester that night while Dean became terrified of anything that moved too fast. He was the real danger to his family, not the marked and cursed Dean.

"I shoulda stayed at Stanford" Sam thought out loud, forgetting he wasn't alone.

"You better not have just said that, Sammy" Ashley whimpered as she made her way towards the car from the office.

"I should have stayed at Stanford even after Jess. This life sucks, it's a damn curse." Ashley only stared at her brother with a wave of tears threatening to fall. "You don't mean that Sammy, I know you don't. Y-you're just upset at this while mark and loosing Dean again."

"No Ash, I'm pretty sure I meant it" Sam said as he fished his bags out of the trunk and tossed the keys at Ben. "Take care of my sister" he called over his shoulder as he walked away.

Ashley didn't even wait to see Sam disappear into the distance with Ben, instead she picked up her bags from the still open trunk and headed over to the motel room she just rented. She tossed a duffle onto the bed closest to the door and rooted around for her fed suit and heels. "Come on, Ben" she hollered out the open door "we gotta get going on this son of a bitch" she sniffled as she threw on her shoes and make up.

"Who am I this time?" he asked coming over to get Ashley to tie his skinny gray tie.

"Probationary Agent Garcia" she said, tossing the fake badge Sam had just finished making at him. "Follow my lead" she smiled at the boy before walking back out the front door without her big brother by her side.

* * *

Ashley was upset that Sam left again, but she only let the anger show onto the wraith. Ben was the one who out it together and found it was one of the deputies. "Alright, so how do we get Deputy Wilkins alone?"

"Fake call, gunshots in an ally and we call specifically for Wilkins" Ashley said as she loaded up two pistols with silver bullets. Ben nodded and went to go flip on the small box TV. "You okay, bud?" Ashley asked after a few moments of silence.

"No, how are you fine? You just lost both brothers!"

"Sam'll come back, he just needs some room right now. He'll come back eventually" she said, hoping she wasn't lying to Ben right now.

"And Dean?" Ben asked a little lower.

"He got himself into this mess"Ashley snapped, "he'll get his own ass out!" Her words were soaked with hostility, but she meant every ounce of it. It seemed Dean cared very little about his own life and never thought of the consequences when it came to protection.

"Hope you're right" Ben sighed as he gathered the gun and knife Ashley had put together for him.

"Remember, head shot" Ashley reminded the boy as she followed him out the front door.

* * *

The wraith was easier to being down then Ben thought. Ashley took point in the attack, but was easily cornered and found herself inches away from getting a spike to the temple. Ben swooped in and snapped the thumb spike off the deputy's hand, giving Ashley the opportunity to shoot it right in between the eyes. The shot was at point blank range and sent blood flying back into Ashley's face as well as all over the wall behind the former deputy. "Good timing, Ben" Ashley panted as she slid down the wall she was still standing against.

"Yeah, thanks" he smiled down at his guardian. "We gonna leave tonight?"

"Naah, tomorrow. I'm in no rush." Ashley's phone let out a shrill right as she finished her statement. "But someone else is" she chuckled as she saw Jody Mills was calling. "Well hey Sheriff, what can I do you for?" she smiled into the phone as she began to walk to the car with Ben following close behind.

_Where are you at right now? _

"Uh, Arizona. Why?"

_Sam just called, said he went to Bobby's and found the guy gone. Now, I'm not sure why you weren't with him and why he said not to call you, but I figure you deserve to know._

"Jesus Jody, thanks. I'll call home and tell everyone to come up there. Mind keeping an eye on Justin for us?"

_You're little one? Sure! See you soon, Ash._

Ben was staring up at Ashley with a look of pure horror written across his face. "What is it?"

"Well we are leaving tonight. Bobby' stone missing, call Dean and leave a message" Ashley said as she dialed Max's number. "I'll tell Max what to pack" she muttered as she started up her car and headed northeast.

**AN: Hoe you all enjoyed, sorry no Cas this time, but I'm sure in upcoming chapters there will be some ;) As always, please take a second to share your thoughts with me in a review.~Ash**


	8. Chapter 8: Rescue Mission

**_Rescue_**_** Mission**_

_******AN: Sorry its a little short, but I think its a good one. I will post another tomorrow due to length :) Enjoy and tell me what you thought!  
****POV CHANGE so watch for section headings**_

As expected, Dean didn't answer his phone, but Ben still begrudgingly left the message, stating Bobby had been taken and they were headed up to Sioux Falls to help Sheriff Mills look for him. When Ashley and Ben pulled up to the salvage yard, she was surprised to see Sam sitting on the front porch with a beer waiting for her. "How'd you know we were coming?" Ashley asked shortly as she accept the unopened beer

"Phone GPS" he answered over the sound of her snapping open the top with a lighter. "Uh and Jody told me she called anyways and said you guys were on your way."

Ashley nodded and set to unpacking her things from the trunk with one hand before going upstairs to find a room to sleep in.

"How'd the hunt go?" Sam asked Ben who was still too tired and cramped to get out of the car once he had been fully shunned from his clearly still upset sister.

"Fine" he yawned "easy." This time it was Sam's turn to nod and wait for the awkward silence to break. Thankfully a brown car pulled up behind the Mustang and out popped Jody Mills to release the forming tension.

"Ash and Dean here?" she asked when she saw the old car was still warm. She opened her arms to the largest Winchester. "And how the heck are you doing, Sam?"

"Just Ash, Dean's dealing with something else. I'm alright I guess," Sam answered, craving to get the attention off of him "this is Ben" Sam said pointing at the open passenger door.

"Nice to meet you Ben, you Dean's boy?" she asked with a smile.

"Maybe, we aren't sure" he responded, shaking Jody's outstretched hand.

"Course not" she threw in sarcastically. "Where is the girl?" Jody asked to whomever.

"Right here" Ashley smiled as she came out of the house with the beer still in her hand but partially drank"how you been, Sheriff?"

"Better" she sighed. "We waiting on Justin to drive himself down here?"

"Heh, no. My um, my boyfriend is coming down with him."

"Oh good, well who's hungry? We can talk things over till they get here."

"Sure, lead the way" Ashley said walking over to the driver's side as Sam climbed into the back.

"Dysfunctional Winchesters" Jody mumbled as she pulled out of the lot in front of the dark blue muscle car.

* * *

Jody had completed a full hunter's investigation before she called in Bobby's missing person's report and was filling in the three young hunters in front of her about her findings.

"Damn, we taught you well. So there was sulfur?" Ashley beamed once Jody was done explaining everything.

"Only outside, right up to the door then it just disappears. Not a speck inside" she nodded.

"Well, we already knew Bobby was good. Did you check his bunker for anything?" Sam said stuffing another fork full of his salad into his mouth. "There wasn't anything when I checked it, but you coulda cleaned up."

"Wait, Bobby Singer has a bunker?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Ben managed around his last mouthful of cheeseburger.

"Wow, you sure Dean isn't your father?"

"Seems it, but my Mom swore up and down there was someone else right after him" he chuckled. "We should check the bunker."

Ashley nodded and stood up from her chair without waiting for Sam, but she just chalked it up to stress with Bobby being gone. "Yeah?" Ashley answered her phone that had started to vibrate once they left the table. "Dean? That you?" she said as she stopped dead in her tracks. "Whoa, calm down! What about Bobby?"

_He uh, demons got him when he went on a beer run_ he explained _they are demanding the mark or they'll kill 'em_.

"Then give them the fucking mark, Dean! What the hell kinda choice is that?!" she yelled into the phone.

_I can't just hand it over, Ash. The person's gotta be worthy or it's not coming off._

"I guarantee a demon holding a hostage is a killer, Dean."

Sam looked at Ashley with as much confusion as Jody had on her face. "How can you three be so close and yet always pissed at one another?" Jody asked the large man standing next to her. Ben nodded in agreement with the inquiry and tilted his head like a puppy in anticipation for the answer. He had been around the Winchester siblings for a while now, but was still unsure how they hadn't killed each other ten times over by now.

"Hah, I'll tell you when I figure that one out myself" Sam said as he watched Ashley's face as she hung up the phone.

"Whelp, I got three pieces of shitty good news" she started "but Max and Justin just got to Bobby's. Let's get this out all at once."

* * *

**Bobby Singer**

Dean had that damn curse pumping through his veins but for once I hoped he would continue to suffer to keep it. If Dean schlepped off the mark to some demon, the knights would be indestructible. "Balls!"

* * *

**Castiel**

Ashley had every right, once again, to be pissed. Sam Winchester was not meant to stay at Stanford, no was he meant to be with Jessica Moore. Of course that is difficult for him to grasp, but this life is his destiny. He is supposed to protect his baby sister and he is supposed to protect his family. He is most like John Winchester but he has the best qualities of the man- his sense of protection, his determination, his focus, and most importantly his heart. Sam's is of course not as soaked in liquor, but it functions just as well as John Winchester's. If anything Sam's pumping heart is bigger and more comforting then his father's was towards his three children.


	9. Chapter 9: Back Pain

_**Back Pain**_

By the time Dean got over to Bobby's, Justin had been asleep on Sam's lap for three hours and Ashley had filled Jody in completely on Dean's current condition. "No wonder you're acting like a bitch to Sam" Jody laughed approvingly.

"No, that would be because I walked out on her as soon as we got to Arizona" Sam said at an even level so as not to wake Justin up.

"You did what?!" Max said angrily, still careful not to get too loud and wake Justin up.

"Max, don't worry about it," Ashley said putting a hand on his chest "he does it once a year pretty much. It was past due for his man-period. Gotta admit though, this was the worst timing I've ever seen with you." Sam puffed out a breath while Max, Jody, and Ben stared at him with a mixture of anger, confusion, and disappointment respectively. At Sam's convenience, Dean knocked on the screen door before coming in to avoid having an onslaught of weapons pointed at him. He could tell by the uncomfortable look on Sam's face that he was also in the dog house now.

"What did he do?" Dean asked Ashley.

"Left as soon as we got to Arizona. Kept saying he shouldn't have left Stanford" she said matter of factually.

"Right, whatever. It was about time you get all that pent up estrogen out, were giving me a headache" Dean said going to the kitchen. "So, everyone hear the good news?"

"Nope. I was going to let you spill the crazy" Ashley said with a sly smile as she put her legs up on Max's lap to settle in for the long discussion to come.

* * *

Sam was handing Justin off to Jody so he wouldn't get woken up when everyone laid into Dean for not already giving up the Mark of Cain. Once Jody came back down without the boy in her arms, Sam finally let all his anger pour out of him and pin Dean against one of Bobby's dirty walls. "The hell are you thinking, Dean? This is Bobby on the line!"

"Whoa boys, let's take it down-"

"No Jody" Ashley interrupted as she leapt off the couch "let them work this out like boys!"

"Bobby wouldn't want us handing the only weapon over to the enemy!" Dean shouted back, or attempted to with an arm resting against his throat.

"No Dean! You are not a weapon and you are not going to let Bobby die!"

"Ash!" Dean pleaded once he saw he wasn't going to get through to Sam "wanna throw in some input here?"

Ashley looked up from her torn jeans and cold bare feet to see everyone staring at her, waiting for an answer. "Where is Bobby's talking board?" she whispered.

"Are you kidding me?" Sam and Dean barked over at her in unison. "You're gonna talk to the damn spirits now? Of all times, _now_?!"

"Hey!" she shouted, shocking everyone by the sudden change in her demeanor and tone. "You want my fucking i_nput_, you get me a damn Ouija Board pronto!" she said crossing her arms over her chest as she took a step closer to her squabbling brothers.

"Bottom drawer of his desk" Dean instructed Ben, who was sitting there just watching Ashley turn redder than he's ever seen her.

"Thank you, now I'm going outside to figure out where Bobby is being held. If you want to join then stow the anger for 5 fricken minutes! Got it?"

"Sorry" Sam said as he let Dean get off the wall and followed Ashley out into the cool South Dakota night air.

"Wow" Jody laughed "and I thought my mom voice was effective."

"I'll teach you later" she smiled on her way out to the back yard, again shocking everyone with her sudden mood change. Ashley spent about 30 minutes just trying to find a spirit willing to help. But when she did, they were just as stumped as she was as to where he could be. Dean was first to give up and release the planchette, right as she was able to find a stronger spirit. "Hey! Dean, what did I say? You cannot just let go" Ashley snapped, clearly letting er frusturation rise to the surface again.

"If this spirit can't find Bobby, how do we know the next one will?"

As soon as Dean let the question leave his lips, the planchette started to move across the letters one by one- _F-O-U-N-__D._

"Found Bobby?" Sam asked relieved.

When the planchette moved to yes, everyone began cheering as the spirit spelled out the location.

"So now," Ashley said once she thanked the spirit and packed up the board "I say we stage a raid and only after we get Bobby back and put some ground rules down, only then will we give them the mark."

Dean agreed along with Sam. Ben nodded his approval as he walked back into the house to pass out in the same room as Justin.

"Who are you sleeping with tonight?" Max whispered into Ashley's ear now that she was calm.

"I uh, I should talk to Dean tonight. Mind if you take the couch?"

"No babe. We'll get Bobby back. Goodnight."

* * *

Dean was surprised to see the lump under the covers when he walked into the dark spare room. He was happy to see his sister happily sleeping anywhere near where he would be. He slipped under the sheet and stayed on his back until his eyes grew heavy, but sleep still didn't come. Ashley was dead asleep, but when she felt the bed dip from new weight she rolled closer to Dean's side, partially conscious. "You awake, Ash?" Dean whispered, eyes still closed.

"Yeah, for a couple seconds" she mumbled "what's up?"

"I uh, I wanted to say thanks for backing me up."

"Shut up, Dean. I just want my damn brothers back."

Dean flinched at the venom behind her words, but he knew she was right- this mark tore his family apart and hurt them to the bone. It was what he as actually trying to avoid, but once everyone left him for the case in Arizona, he realized how stupid he really was about this whole situation. Dean was going to fix this no matter what. "We get Bobby back soon" he sighed.

"Good," Ashley breathed out as she put her head down on Dean's tattooed shoulder "night." Ashley was able to fall back asleep right away, but didn't feel the sudden added weight until it kneed her in the back. Ashley let out a deep scream from the pain that suddenly shot up her spine. The last time she felt this kind of pain was when she had to drag a barely alive Dean back to the Impala after a pissed off spirit decided it was best to deflate his hero complex with shards of glass.

"What!" Dean said springing up and grabbing the knife under Ashley's pillow.

"I'm sorry, Mommy" a little voice said under Ashley's screams.

"The Hell Justin" she yelled at the boy as everyone in the house came flocking in holding weapons of their own.

"I-I got scared and thought th-there was something u-under your bed."

"Justin, you really hurt Ash. You can't do that" Dean said as he slipped his knife to Max before the boy could see the shinny flash of the blade. "Come here next to me" Dean said as he kneeled down on the floor on the side he was previously occupying "see there's nothing there?" Justin nodded from behind his back. "Good, now Sam's going to do that with your bed while I help Ash, okay?"

Sam followed Dean's lead and handed the angel blade he had grabbed to Max before lifting the now crying boy into his arms.

* * *

"Thank you for not handing him a .45" Ashley groaned as Dean climbed back into bed.

"Next time I might" he chuckled. "The recoil would have hurt him more with how small and young he is. Maybe a .22 first."

"Wait, did I hear that right?" Max chuckled as he finished making a bed for himself on the floor underneath Ashley.

"Heh, Dad did that to Sam when he was 9 and was scared of the monsters under his bed" Dean said settling down on his back again.

"John sounds _great_" Max chuckled sarcastically.

"Oh he was" Ashley yawned back in response "night guys."

"Night" both boys called back. Ashley fell asleep holding Max's hand off the edge of the bed and Dean's slung lazily across the small of her back. Her family was whole again- a little scattered yes, but together none the less.

**AN: Do tell me what you thought, exactly what you thought! I can only cater better to your desires when I know what it is you are interested in. Hope you all enjoyed none the less!~ Ash**


	10. Chapter 10: Head Lock

_**Head Lock**_

Sam and Dean went in first, closely followed by Ben and Ashley, who were followed by Max. They were going into the warehouse blind since Castiel did not answer Sam's prayers, once again. "Bobby" Dean whispered with a harsh voice "you here?" There was no answer, so Dean pressed on deeper while Sam motioned for Ben and Max to guard the entrance. Ashley followed Sam in the opposite direction that Dean went and continued to call out Bobby's name.

"What if he's not here?" Ashley whispered to Sam.

"Then we force Dean to give up the Mark. Plan B" Sam replied.

"Hey! Sammy!" Dean yelled from the other end of the cluttered area. "I got him, come help me get him up."

"Shit" Ashley breathed out when she saw the bloody man slumped forward "is he okay?"

"He's barely got a pulse" Sam replied.

"And that's why you're going to call Jody and alert the hospital while we drive" Dean barked at Ashley while Sam helped bring Bobby back to the Impala.

* * *

Everyone was sitting around the waiting room of the hospital while Bobby was in with this doctor. The old hunter had yet to wake up because of the amount of swelling round his brain and the extra blood pooling there. When he was admitted the doctors said Bobby was likely not to wake up again. Dean took it the worst since he had the most time to bond with the old hunter and learned all about cars through him. "You listen to me. I'm gonna say this once. He's not gonna die. He's gonna be fine 'cause he's always fine" Dean shouted at the doctor when the Winchesters heard the news.

"For Bobby Singer" a nurse called out into the waiting room. The three Winchesters stood up together and walked toward the nurse standing in the white sterile hall with a clipboard in hand.

"What's the update?" Dean said as he scrubbed a hand on his cheek.

"The swelling is down a little, so we took him off sedation. He also started fighting his tube- so we pulled it out and now he's breathing on his own."

"That-that's good news, right?" Ashley managed to say in a voice as soft as a mouse, yet strong enough where she wouldn't be kicking herself later.

"Best case scenario" the nurse smiled as she walked back down the hall to the nurse's station.

"Can I talk to you two?" Sam said walking away from the view of the waiting room, where Max was sitting with a sleeping Ben and Justin.

"No, we are not gonna have that conversation" Dean replied sternly as he and Ashley followed Sam.

"Well, we need to."

"He's not gonna die."

"He might. A-and if he does-"

"Sam" Ashley interrupted with a shake of her head.

"Ash- look we need to brace ourselves. With Dad he just collapsed, we didn't have a chance. But this man- he is our second chance at a Dad and we can't let him die without saying goodbye."

"Why? Cause its real? With Dad it wasn't?! I beg to differ, Sammy" she shrieked at her brother.

"What do you want to do? You want to hug and- and say we made it through when Dad died? We've been through enough, we shouldn't have to eve talk about this shit again! I'm tired of watching my family die" Dean said as he started walking towards the entrance of the hospital.

Ashley understood where Dean was coming from and only felt her legs lower her to the ground. "Bobby's gotta be okay, Sammy" she said with a stone face.

"He will be" Sam said squatting next to her. He sat there with her for a while, long enough to feel his butt going numb as well as the shoulder Ashley had put her head down on.

"He's showing signs of responsiveness" Dean panted as he ran past his siblings with Jody close behind him. As the four adult members of Bobby's immediate family crowded around his bed, Bobby opened his glassy eyes and smiled up at his three kids, adopted grandsons, and closest friend who was holding Justin up. Bobby used the last of his energy to grab Ashley and Justin's hand before looking into Sam and Dean, and Ben's eyes. "Idjits" he smiled as the heart monitor let out one flat beep and his eyes closed for the last time.

* * *

Dean had spent hours under the hood of his Impala and Ashley's Mustang, trying to sort through his feelings as he made sure every part of the two classic cars were in mint condition and functioning to their best. It was the only way he learned to cope and it was the only way he could get time alone, but even then he still got interrupted by Justin and his siblings. "Hey Dean" Ashley whispered to her brother, so as not to startle him under the hood.

"What?" he barked, still elbows deep in grease, oil, and car grime.

"We uh, we are gonna start the pyre soon. You're still coming, right?"

"Yeah, sure" he said slamming his hood closed. "We should move in here. Safer."

Ashley looked over her shoulder at Dean, surprised he even allowed himself to say that out loud this close to Bobby's passing, but he was right.

"Alright, we'll talk about this later" she said walking towards her grease covered brother and opening up her arms for a hug. "Would you just talk to me, De?Please." This caught Dean's attention and only irritated him more. It was the final straw that broke this camel's back, and for some reason Dean could not control the anger that began to pour out of every pore on his body, releasing a dark shadow to pass over his face. Dean stepped closer to his sister and put his face down at her level. "There is nothing to talk about, got it!" he yelled into her face.

"You haven't slept since he died, Dean! It's obviously something-" she said without even flinching at the increased volume.

"No it's not. I'm fine, hell I'm peachy!" Dean yelled again, closer to her face. "So stop asking me. Spread the news too, or I'll come blame you!"

Ashley finally got tired of Dean yelling in her face, so instead of stepping back or crying like she wanted to, she reached up to put Dean in a stiff head lock. "Listen here, boy! I am so fricken tired of your shit! Got it?" she yelled into his ear. "You want to have anything to do with me, you best watching your fucking temper! I know part of this is the mark but I will cut it off your damn arm if I have to to get you to act normal again!" Dean finally let out a sigh and held up his hands in surrender and apology. "Good" she smiled as she pushed her brother roughly down on the ground and into he dry dirt before opening up the door to see a huge smile on Max and Sam's face. "Start getting into Max's truck. Dean'll be right behind us, wont you?"

"Yes ma'am" Dean said with his southern accent that had stuck around from when he was a little child in Kansas. It only came out when he was angry, polite, or very scared.

* * *

Castiel looked with confusion at how someone can jump from calm to angry in seconds. Of course everyone expected Bobby to live forever, but it was his time to go at the hand of protecting his family. _Robert Steven Singer came from a troubled childhood; he himself was in need of a rescuer. But Bobby Singer did it himself- that is what made him the perfect protector for John Winchester's children. Dean was the one most affected by Mary's death purely because he could remember her and could remember that night. Sam and Ashley were just blamed for the death of Mary and targeted for being her splitting image._

_John made those kids' life hell, but without John's life choices Dean would be an alcoholic mechanic, Sam would be a family man lawyer, hating every day of his life. Ashley is the one Winchester I am not sure how she would have turned out- perhaps that is why she is able to jump from calm to anger in only a few moments. If it wasn't for John, Sam and Dean would never be ready to be the vessel to Michael and Lucifer. The apocalypse would have happened nobody would be able to stop it. _

_Bobby Singer's destiny is one I wish was able to be change for Dean, Sam, and Ashley's sake. They depended on this man, they were raised by this man, and now they are burning this to set him free. If only they knew where he was going- then maybe they would not burn his body and bones. I wish that was something else I could change, but once again it is out of my lowly hands. _Perhaps there will be a chance for Bobby to be happy and a chance for the Winchesters to carry on without knowing another sacrifice was made for them.

**AN: Sorry for the feels, they hurt me too. Either way, tell me what you thought, how exactly you felt, or anything you want to tell me in a much appreciated review! Thank you for all the continued support, just letting you know in my head the story is still going on strong! ~Ash**


	11. Chapter 11: Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner

_**Nobody Puts Baby in A Corner**_

The four adults left Justin with Ben and went to Bobby's favorite bar to celebrate his memory. Max as leaning back in his seat laughing at the stories Ashley and her brother's stories. He never thought that grumpy, paranoid old man could show suck admiration to three kids that weren't even related to him.

Dean had just started in on the story of when Bobby took him to toss around a baseball instead of practicing how to shoot. Sam and Ashley were playing on the swings right next to where Dean and Bobby were. "I'm guessing John was pissed when he found out" Max said, signaling for another round of shots.

"He was pissed beyond recognition" Dean laughed "but that's when Bobby called us his kids." Ashley and Sam both smiled as Dean looked down at his callused hands. Max was a little confused at the wide array of emotions coming from the Winchesters, but the fourth round of shots were being delivered. "So uh, I was thinking that we move into Bobby's place" Dean said breaking the emotional silence.

"Why?" Sam questioned his older brother's intents.

"Safer, got everything we need and better than just letting it get turned into a damn teen hangout" Dean defended.

"What about Max?" Sam pointed out. Ashley was shocked to hear Sam ask about his living arrangement.

"He can take the barn. Patch it up and it'll be good to go for a very long time" Dean shrugged. "He put his house up and we rent out this one too."

Sam stuck out his bottom lip as he nodded in approval. Ashley smiled up at the three remaining men in her life. "We still gotta pack up and get things in order" she pointed out.

"So, then we find someone to haul the shitty non-Impala or Mustang cars off the lot" Sam responded.

* * *

Ashley lay in bed that night and couldn't help but feel that this was a bad move. This was Bobby's house- it has been for well over 30 years and it always will be. His spirit still felt like he was walking around the halls, but it couldn't be possible. They burned his body and gave him a hunter's funeral. Dean sighing next to her caused Ashley to jump a little.

"You still awake too?" Dean asked at a whisper.

"Unfortunately" she mumbled "look uh, I'm-"

"Oh no, no moments!" Dean interrupted. Ashley tried to keep everything in like she learned from watching Dean when she was a kid, but the tears suddenly unloaded along with her anger about Bobby being dead. The anger caused her whole body to shake against her efforts to be as still as possible. "I thought I said no moments" Dean chuckled as he let Ashley curl up into his side. "You almost done, Killer?" he said rubbing her back.

"Damn De" she sniffled "you are a fricken charmer."

"I try. Come on, let's go get some air" he said sitting up and pulling his sister up with him. He grabbed her a blanket and walked her under his arm to the porch. Once she was settled, he grabbed two beers from the fridge and joined Ashley on the step. They both spent a couple hours just looking up at the stars and sipping beers, until Ashley fell asleep with her head on Dean's shoulder. No matter how cold Dean got, he refused to move Ashley back into the house. The cool air felt good on the burning mark on his arm and having his sister asleep next to him seemed to calm all the hate and anger he was feeling. It wasn't until he heard a pair of footsteps walk up behind him did Dean realize it was getting really cold.

"Is she alright?" Max asked at a whisper.

"Yeah, just got a little upset in the room so we came out here, but she fell asleep and I uh, not ready to go back in. Until now, it's getting a little cold. Wanna bring her back up?"

"Yeah, sure" Max answered as he grabbed Ashley around her waist and knees. "After you" he whispered again once he had a good hold on Ashley.

"Yeah, right" Dean said, struggling to see past the red that clouded his vision as soon as Ashley was removed from his shoulder.

* * *

Ashley was down in the basement clearing out some trash when she heard the yells coming from upstairs. Sounded like Dean and Ben were arguing, but there were also shuffling footsteps. "Dammit" she sighed to herself as she raced up the old stairs.

When she got up, she saw Sam holding a struggling Ben back from landing another punch on a bleeding Dean, who was struggling to stand behind Max. "The Hell happened" she blurted when she saw Justin standing scared in a corner with a blanket pulled over most of his face. She scooped the kid up to calm him while she backed into the same corner to make sure Justin didn't accidentally get hit if fists began to fly again.

Ben was still struggling against Sam's restraining arms the whole time Dean explained to Ashley how Ben had gotten a home paternity test and stole some of his hair to see if Dean was his dad. "Alright, and?" she said turning towards Ben now, who thankfully didn't have a single mark on him. _At least Dean has that much control over his functions now._

"He's my Dad. He actually is my damn father!" Ben spat over Sam's shoulder at Ashley.

"So, isn't this good news?" she asked confused as she felt Justin latch onto her neck even tighter as Ben began to yell again.

"No! He left me and my Mom over and over again! He wasn't there for us!"

"Yeah I was, Ben!" Dean yelled as he tried to push past Max, which just landed him a hard shove to his chest. "Your Mom swore that you weren't mine! I didn't know then."

"Bullshit! You didn't want me to be your son! You just wanted to run around with Sam and Ashley!"

Ashley had enough of the yelling and so had Justin judging on the sniffles now coming from him and how his legs were now squeezing all the air out of her. "Stop yelling!" he screamed from Ashley's shoulder.

"Ben, go outside" Ashley ordered as she went to put down the now crying boy on the soft couch. "Dean, go finish cleaning downstairs for me. Sam we need to find Abaddon, give Dean something to..you know. Any leads?" Ashley sighed as she sat down on the red velvet couch and felt Justin grab for her neck again.

"No, she's gone. We just need to get the damn mark off Dean" Sam sighed as he ran both hands through his too long hair.

"Then find us a case. We all have too much energy and anger" Ashley sighed as she got more comfortable on the couch with Justin relaxing against her chest.

"I'm on it" Sam nodded as he went to sit at the old cluttered desk.

"Good, nap time for us" she muttered to both herself and the boy on her chest.

* * *

Ashley woke up to the feeling of eyes on her as well as a blanket and a sleeping boy. "Didn't someone teach you it's not polite to stare" Ashley whispered as she cracked an eye open.

"Sorry" Sam mumbled from the desk, but didn't divert his stare yet. Sam was so unsure how Ashley could look so peaceful sleeping after everything she's been through. Her face was so innocent and relaxed when her eyes were closed. All the hard lines she earned too soon disappeared as if she bathed in anti-aging lotion. Sam only hoped Ashley had as happy dreams as she looked while she slept.

"What is it, Sammy?" Ashley whispered as she slipped out from under a still sleeping Justin.

"Just a case" he said snapping out of his trance "on the way back to San Diego."

"Alright, what is it?" she asked walking up behind the desk to look over Sam's shoulder at what was on the laptop screen.

"Uh, one guy killed by a power saw during a black out, another by exhaust in his garage with a motor less car."

"Cool! Where at?"

"Wyoming. We got a couple weeks before the next kill, so we can hang out here for a bit" Sam said as he leaned back in his chair and closer to Ashley. He really could use his sister's support right now, but he was too proud to ask for it outright. Thankfully she picked up on his body language and wrapped her arms around his neck and put her chin on his head with a sigh.

**AN: Whew! Feel the anger in them fightin' words? :P Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, tell me what you thought or what you didn't like in a review, as always! I really appreciate those, makes me feel good about myself ~Ash**


	12. Chapter 12: Blinded

_**Blinded**_

Ben had refused to go on the hunt or be anywhere around Dean, so it was just the three Winchesters on the case. Ashley left her car at the motel Max and the boys were staying in while she piled into the back of the Impala, just like old times. "So any better ideas on what we got here, Sammy?" Dean happily asked his geek brother next to him once Ashley was settled in the back.

"Uh some sort of spirit tied to some object" Sam shrugged.

"Awesome. Well let's get something to eat and dig around" Dean said speeding into a dinner's parking lot.

"God forbid Dean does anything without a burger" Ashley joked as she climbed out of the backseat she just got reacquainted with.

"My head needs fuel too, ya know" he defended himself.

"Not your upstairs one" she shot back, along with a fun jab to his ribs.

"Bitch" Dean kidded as he slapped her butt once she walked past him.

"Jackass" she smiled over her shoulder.

"We got work to do" Sam laughed at the fun mood both of his siblings were in "let's go!"

Dean followed his two younger siblings into the diner and slid into the booth next to Ashley. He missed these nights where it was just the Winchesters saving people and hunting things. He loved having kids around the house, but his heart will always be a hunter no matter how old he got.

"So the victims," Ashley said breaking the silence "any connection?"

"Other than dying in weird ways, nope. I cannot find any with what I have to look at."

"Awesome, going in blind" Dean said with a mouthful of chewed cheese burger.

"Isn't he just a charmer" Ashley mumbled with a wrinkled nose.

"Hey" Dean chuckled "I'm adorable!"

* * *

Ashley went with her brothers to question the victim's families about the strangeness surrounding their deaths. Both men's wives said nothing else strange had happened, but they both played poker together on Monday nights.

"At who's house, ma'am" Ashley asked Mrs. Drayer, the car victim's wife, finished answering the last question Sam threw at her.

"Uh, the Straw's residence" she sniffled.

"Perfect, do you mind if we take a look around the garage?"

"Sure, yeah. Mind if I um, s-stay here? I'm not ready yet to go in there, since he- choked."

"No problem, Mrs. Drayer" Dean hastened to say, before following his two siblings down stairs. "Probably best you stay here anyways. Well come out if we have any questions, if not we will just head out. Thank you for your time."

Ashley and Dean started looking all around the garage for ectoplasm, sulfur, or even a hex bag to give them a clue as to what they were up against while Sam stood still. "The hell man, get over here and help me move this box" Dean grunted.

"Lift with your knees," Sam chuckled. "Hey you remember that coven a few years back? Uh, book club?"

"Yeah, they started picking each other off," Ashley responded "so you think this is the male version?"

"Yeah, hex bag" he smiled up at the red bag on top of the electric door opener.

* * *

Castiel was always was impressed at how well the Winchesters worked together and were able to help most people that crossed their paths. He continued to watch how they scanned the garage, looked under (and over) every stone until finding the hex bag.

_I wonder how they will be able to work together to handle the news soon to come. I wish I could tell them now, but I cannot. It could put everything in jeopardy, and with this upcoming war everything needs to play out as it's laid on the board for humanity as well as angel survival. I only hope Ashley is able to handle the curveball- this whole plan relies on her and nothing can afford to go wrong._

* * *

Dean was the one who went in the man cave first and found their suspicions were right. Brian Straw was the leader of these meetings, and tonight they were going after new father Judah Dixon. "Hey" Dean barked from behind the wall.

"Dean Winchester" Brian replied irritated "we are almost done here. Sit a spell." Dean was flung against a wall and pinned there, signaling Sam and Ashley it was their turn now.

"Too bad he isn't alone" Ashley said as she came in the door holding her revolver up. Sam quickly followed her holding his own pearl-handled Taurus M92 above Ashley's head.

* * *

Dean was lying on his back that night, unable to sleep due to the fact that Ben, his biological son now hated his guts. Dean really had tried to be there for Ben once he found out about his existence.

Ashley moved in her sleep next to Dean and broke his thoughts. She always has been his anchor, even when they were younger. She dotted on Sam and did the smallest things for Sam, but those things were what Mary used to do for Dean. "Maybe I need to start listening to you more" Dean said lifting Ashley's head up so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders. When Ashley rolled onto her side, Dean took the chance he had to stuff his face into her thick blond hair. "Miss you, Mom" he said as he allowed his heavy eyelids to close, Right before he fell asleep, Dean could have sworn he heard his mom whisper back to him in the wind.

* * *

Sam woke up first and decided to check on Ben and Justin before Dean got up. He understood why Ben was upset, but he still wanted to know what possessed him to suddenly feel hate towards Dean.

"Hey" Max whispered into the phone, clearly woken up by the call.

"Hey Max, its Sam" Sam introduced himself.

"Sam, shit! Ash- is she okay?"

"What? Yeah, no totally fine. I was just checking in on Ben and Justin" Sam quickly threw in to calm Max's nerves.

"Oh damn, you scared me! Ben's good I guess, slightly peppier."

"Good, so no fights when we show up in an hour. Thanks Max!"

**AN: As always tell me what you think in a review! Hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 13: Burning

_**Burning Ring of Fire**_

Dean was still on the couch flipping through channels while Ashley had curled up and fallen asleep in his favorite armchair with Justin sitting next to her. He really did have himself a good life as a hunter and a family man. The only downside was the burning mark on his arm and losing his second father.

Every night, whenever Ashley finally fell asleep and stopped crying, Dean would sneak out of the room and drink himself into oblivion. He would pull down a bottle of Jack and two glasses, one would sit there for Bobby while the other was filled to the brim many times. Dean would chug until he couldn't even think straight and only then would he go to bed, with Ashley's blond head on his shoulder. He was careful not to show his younger siblings how torn up he was, but once he had left out that second glass and earned himself a tongue lashing from Sam.

Little did Dean know, Ben sat on the stairs and watched his hero and now Dad drink himself stupid every night. Ben finally decided to sneak into Dean and Ashley's spare room one morning and wait until they woke up to talk.

Ashley woke up once Justin began to stir as well and carried him off into his room. Once Justin was asleep in his own bed, Ashley came back down for a glass of water and to say her good nights. By the time she got to Dean, she could see a haze forming in his eyes that was not due to drowsiness. "You know you can always talk to me, right?" she whispered into Dean's ear whens he reached over the back of the couch to give him a hug.

"No need Ash, I'm fine" he grumbled as he finished the beer in his hand. "I'll be up soon, so don't take over the bed."

"Fine" she whined playfully before taking the empty bottle for Dean and throwing it away on her way upstairs.

* * *

Ashley was first to stir when the sun began to light up the master bedroom, but she was still too tired to wake up. As she curled her knees in and put them against Dean's side, she felt a set of eyes on her. Instinctively, she slowly and carefully slid a hand under her pillow and wrapped her stiff fingers around the cold handle of an angel blade stowed under her head.

"Ash?" a familiar voice whispered in the still dark room.

"Hmm?" she replied, releasing the blade as well as the breath she sucked in.

"Can I talk to you and Dean?"

"In a minute, Ben" she said into Dean's arm. Without waiting for a response, she closed her eyes again and continued to dream. This new one wasn't a good dream unfortunately. Right from the get go, it was of a thin woman pushing a stroller on the sidewalk in front of their old childhood house. This woman stopped right outside the door and began to dig for her keys. Right as she pulled them out of her bag, the house exploded into flames. "Ed" she cried out into the house, but there was no response. Instead the front door was flung open and standing in the flames was the same person the woman was calling out, Bobby's father. Ashley was jolted awake by the figure in a panic and also woke Dean while scaring Ben, who was still sitting in a chair in the room, but now with a book.

"What was that?" Dean asked with a hoarse voice.

"I think I just had a vision, like Sammy used to get" she panted, trying to suck in the oxygen she foolishly released when she sat up.

"What of?" Ben asked timidly from his chair, earning a confused look from Dean as to why he was there.

"Our old house. I think I saw Mom somewhere in the flames behind _Ed Singer_" she answered, putting emphasis on Bobby's father's name.

Dean's stomach did a back flip when he heard both names, but he kept his composure as Ben ran to get Sam. "Why Ed Singer?"

"I-I don't know, De."

"Alright, but Mo's spirit is gone. We saw it happen" Sam said once he listened to the entirety of Ashley's dream after she had calmed down.

"I know, but there's something there! We gotta help, whoever that is."

"Ash is right" Dean said from across the room "we gotta check this out. Could be a warning or something."

* * *

The drive from California to Kansas was long and boring, so Ashley allowed herself to take a nap in the truck next to Max while Sam and Dean drove the boys. Ashley's dreams were strange and cryptic again, but as Max followed the Impala into Lawrence, Ashley began to have another vision.

This time it was Ashley opening the front door while she held Justin on her hip. AS she opened the door, flames began licking her face and Justin's bare feet. "No, this is my son" she yelled back to the flames. They finally settled and out came the likeness of Mary, John, Bobby, and Adam. Ashley bolted awake next to Max, startling him enough to veer the truck violently.

"The hell is it?" Max sighed out as he rubbed her sweaty leg.

"Catch up to Dean, we got something to discuss" she ordered, as she slipped on her boots. She didn't bother to lace them up as she only intended to prevent getting frost bite on her already chilly toes.

The large blue pick up barreled down the two lanned highway towards the Impala. When Max pulled up next to Dean's side of the car, Ashley singled to pull over and hop out. As she started to tell Sam and Dean about her latest dream, Ashley could tell they were wary about the path they now had to go down.

"But Ash, that makes no sense," Sam stated "Bobby and Dad where burned, Mom's spirit got cancelled out by a poltergeist, and Adam-"

"-he's still stuck in Hell, huh?" Dean finished for his younger brother, now kicking himself for not realizing this fact sooner.

"I know, I'm just telling you what I saw" Ashley huffed as she let Max help her up onto the warm hood of his truck.

"Alright fine, Then what do we do?" Dean asked out loud in frustration.

"Uh, well I did check into the old house." Sam started "Jenny and her kids moved out not too long ago, its empty for now. No one wanted to buy it, so she gave it away to Missouri."

Max was bouncing back and forth between the deliberating Winchesters, but their too mall family tree was preventing him from understanding everything simply because of the cloud of confusion engulfing it. "So, then why don't we just show up and play it by ear?" he finally piped up once he felt he had a handle on the history enough.

"Alright" Sam shrugged "we kinda know what we are walking into. If it's weird, we call Missouri."

Dean agreed and walked back towards his car and slid in the driver's seat. He promised himself that he would never step foot inside Lawrence again, but now Dean was once again being strong around by his younger siblings. They so did have a hold on his tender heart strings.

"Wait, the state?" Max asked seriously as everyone split up.

"No babe, how could a state answer a phone? Or help for that matter. Seriously think sometimes" she smiled as he helped her off the hood of his truck.

**AN: Oooh, what's going to happen next? Stay tuned for the next installment! And in the meantime, tell me exactly what you thought! Every detail.. ~Ash**


	14. Chapter 14: A War is Coming

_**A War is Coming**_

Another five hours later Sam, Dean, and Ashley were standing on the front porch of their childhood home. Neither Winchester could take another step forward, but also they couldn't walk away. Dean remembered everything that happened and carrying Sam out of the burning house, but he also remembered wishing he could go back to save Baby Ashley. It wasn't until Dean heard Ben step up beside him and saw Justin clamp onto Ashley's legs that he found some strength to start picking the door lock. "After you, children" Dean grumbled once the lock clicked open and he pushed the door open.

"No, I-I can't" Ashley sniffled as she picked up a sleepy Justin, holding him close for her own comfort.

"Come on Ash, we've already gone home once. We can do it again" Sam said wrapping an arm around her small waist and starting to pull her forward with his own momentum.

"B-but last time we were here, Mom's spirit canceled out. I-I can't watch her die again!"

"I'm not going anywhere, darling" a soft southern voice said from inside the house.

"M-mom?" Dean stammered out. It was the exact same voice he remembered would tell him good night.

"Our babies are back" John said stepping into the doorway with Mary under his arm.

"Dad!" Sam smiled as he flung himself towards his parents. But instead of hugging air, Sam actually collided with a strong mass. "My God, you're actually here! You guys are back?"

"It can't be" Dean said as he stepped up behind his taller brother.

"Better believe it, boy" Bobby grunted from further in the house.

"Is Adam here?" Ashley sighed into her mother's hair. She never had this experience before and wasn't planning on giving it up anytime soon. By the grasp her mother had on her, it seemed she didn't want to let go either.

"I haven't seen him" John admitted as he stepped up next to his wife again and put a hand on Ashley's shoulder. She still had her face pressed against her mother's neck when Dean walked up behind her.

"Mind if I uh" Dean quietly interrupted the moment.

"Oh, right. Sorry" she sniffled, stepping away from Mary and bouncing Justin back up higher on her hip.

* * *

Castiel watched with a happy heart as Sam, Dean, and Ashley greeted their three parents over again. For the majority, it was their first meeting. Ashley responded with more love then she ever showed her own children when she saw her mother; that's not to say she never truly loved her children, but she now understood how a mother should love. She only had the hard, tough love from her father when he was in a good mood. Her heart was not molded and softened by a mother's lullabies or the unconditional love every child should feel.

It was with a heavy heart he realized soon he would actually have to explain why Mary, John, and Bobby were all brought back from the dead and possibly why Ashley dreamt of Adam, their forgetting half brother, as well. This family was just reunited for the first time as a whole, and now he would have to take away the happiness and love that flowed out of this house like it once did 36 long years ago.

* * *

The Winchesters, including Ben, Bobby, and Max sat down at the large kitchen table staring at each other not needing to say a word. Justin, despite how big he was now, curled up against his mother's chest and fell asleep surrounded by his new found family. John was first to break the silence in a very _John_ way. "So whose brilliant idea was it to adopt two kids and bring them into the life?"

"All of ours," Ashley snapped "we can't keep hunting our whole life! I wanted kids" she admitted as her arms reflexively wrapped around the boy on her lap, as if John could take him away.

"And what about him?" John asked, moving his head to bring Ben into the conversation as if he was the red-headed step child nobody truly loved.

"He's mine" Dean defended Ben "his Mom, Lisa, was helping Ash out and then got tortured to death by Crowley, the King of Hell. We took him in."

"I think it's a great idea," Mary smiled at her children "I never wanted you three in life anyways."

Ashley couldn't shop staring at her own mother, but was still confused as to how her three dead family members were suddenly brought back to her. "How uh, how are you guys alive again?"

"I don't know, baby" Mary smiled at her daughter.

"I think Cas had something to do with it" Bobby interrupted as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a hand print exactly like the one Dean and Ashley had on their shoulders.

"Cas" Sam called out "is that true?" he asked when he heard a rustle of wings behind him.

"Except it wasn't from Hell" the angel answered, wishing they family had more time before he was called. "They were needed in an upcoming war, you all are."

"A war against what, exactly?" Dean threw back at his friend. He always felt the dead should stay dead, even if it meant he would not be able to hug his Mother again, or speak to his two fathers. At least he was lucky enough to have had two, most barely have one.

"Angels. They are revolting and searching for a new leader. Unfortunately they have turned to the wrong leader" Castiel informed the room.

"So, why are we all needed?" Sam spoke up from his spot.

"You will find out soon enough, all nine of you have an important part to play" Castiel announced before disappearing in a flutter of wings again.

**AN: Nice reunion right? Supernatural style. Please leave reviews and anything you feel like telling me...sorry it is kind of short. I love listening and reading everyone's comments! ~Ash**


	15. Chapter 15: Family

_**Family Reunion**_

Ashley had curled up next to Dean like usual, but no matter how she tried her mind would not let her go to sleep. Her mom was alive, so was her father and Bobby- yet she still had this huge pit in her stomach. Justin was just a kid; how could he be expected to fight a war? Ashley let out a huge sigh and rolled herself away from Dean's side, flat onto her back.

"Killer, you gotta get some rest" Dean mumbled as he rolled onto his own side to get close to his sister again.

"This can't be good, De" she whispered back. "Justin is only a kid, he can't be expected to fight in a war."

Dean breathed out a very tired breath as he rolled back onto his back. "We'll talk to Cas tomorrow and find out who we are up against and what role Justin is going to play, okay?"

"Okay" Ashley agreed and scooted her back into Dean's side. She finally followed the happy thoughts dancing around her head into a peaceful sleep. Her whole family was finally under one roof and all alive and well. No angel or monster was ever going to take that away from her again- not if she could help it.

* * *

When Ashley woke up, she had the bed to herself and could hear laughs coming from downstairs. "It wasn't a dream" she said to herself. A big smile crept onto her face right as a light knock sounded against the thick wooden door. "Yeah" she called out as she hugged the blankets to her chest.

"I brought you breakfast, Mommy" Justin announced as he pushed his way into the room with Max following…with the tray of eggs and coffee.

"Ah, thanks baby" she said with a chuckle and helped Justin climb up on the bed.

"I only helped" Max winked at Ashley as he carefully laid the loaded tray down in front of her.

"Aw, thank you for helping him" she winked at her boyfriend before giving him a peck on the cheek. "You having fun with your grandparents?" Ashley asked the little boy before taking a bite of her toast.

"Yes! Sam and Dean went out with Grandpa John this morning, so I've been hanging with Grandma." Justin explained "She's real nice! She made me pancakes!"

Ashley couldn't help but smile at the image of Mary Winchester, once dead but now cooking pancakes for her grandson while her daughter slept happily upstairs. "I'm happy to hear that, Tiger! Go down and spend some more time with her."

"Yes, Mommy!" Justin said as he happily bounded back down to the kitchen. Max curled up behind Ashley's back while she ate the eggs Mary whipped up for her after her brothers left with John. "Mm, I missed spending time with you" Max whispered into the small of her back.

"I missed you too, baby" she tossed behind her. "But, how about we go down soon and see what Castiel has planned for you."

"Ugh, you're always all business and no fun! Only if you want" he chuckled "guess it is kind of weird if we…you know do it here in your childhood house."

She tried to smile at the fun comment, but the thought of being back in this house, in the same room her mother was killed, which lead to her whole family being turned upside down flipped her stomach. "Max, we shouldn't be here" she sighed "this house is a scary place for me. I can't be comfortable here, sleeping in the nursery Sam and I shared, the same roof my Mother died on."

"I know it, Killer" Dean said peeking back into the room he shared with his sister last night. "I don't like being back in this house, let alone the same room but it's where the family is now."

"So, what are we gonna do?" she sniffled as she ran a hand through Max's short hair.

"We are going back home, with everyone else" he replied "pack up. We just got Dad another truck, we leave soon."

* * *

Ashley climbed back up into Max's truck while Bobby, John, and Mary followed in their own vehicle. The large Winchester gang had decided to ditch Lawrence and fight this angel war from San Diego. "Did you talk to Cas?" Ashley asked her brothers through the phone.

"No, he doesn't have his ears on right now" Dean grunted as he settled in for a long, fast paced drive back to California.

"So why do we need to talk to this damn angel?" John barked from the other line. He was in a rush to get tot heir detestation as quickly as possible, and there fore saw talking to an angel as a complete waste of daylight.

"Cuz I am not letting my five year old boy fright a Supernatural war, Dad" Ashley spat through the phone.

"And I won't let that happen" a gruff voice said backing her up "I'll make sure Justin stays out of the line of fire."

"Thanks Bobby" Sam responded for his sister when he felt the tension rise, even if they weren't in the same vehicle. Ashley was always like Sam when it came to how she felt about John. Dean was his good little solider, but Ashley didn't agree with John's reckless, carefree personality. Max saw Ashley's mood change whenever John spoke or was brought up.

"What do you have against this man?" Max said as he laid a hand on her left thigh once the phone call was over.

"He's a dick. Instead of raising his kids once his wife died, he ran off and left the eldest in charge of two babies!"

"He didn't know what to do" Max theorized.

"Exactly" Ashley yelled "he had no clue how to handle three children." She saw Dean pull over to the shoulder, probably to switch out drivers and stretch his old legs. "I'll take over the rest of the way" she said to Max once Ben climbed behind the Impala's wheel.

"Alright, thanks Ash" he yawned.

"I want to clear my head" she shrugged as she walked barefoot over to the left side of the truck. By the time she was back in the cab, her feet were freezing but she was fully awake for the long road ahead of her.

"So much like your brothers" he joked as she pulled in front of Ben and continued towards California.

"Where do you think I got it from?" she smiled as she found a country station with decent enough music.

**AN: What do you all think? Hope everyone enjoyed! Please leave me a review :) Always appreciated ~Ash**


	16. Chapter 16: Lioness

_**Lioness**_

**POV change, so as alaways keep an eye on the section headings! Enjoy :)**

Ashley hadn't left her mother's side once they got back to San Diego. Being around men all her life had turned her into a Tomboy, but being around her mother strengthened that trait in her. "I knew you grew up a hunter" Ashley chuckled "but I always imagined you'd be more-"

"Girly?" Mary answered with a twinkle in her eye that seemed closer to mischief then happiness.

"Yeah, guess so" Ashley smiled back as she hopped up on the counter close to the fridge and grabbed herself a beer.

Mary smiled over at her only daughter. True she was in Sam and Ashley's nursery, heading to her son's crib when she was killed by the Yellow Eyed Demon, but she was most worried about Ashley and how she would fare without a woman in her life while she was pinned to the ceiling. "You got pregnant, right? Sam told me."

Ashley looked up, shocked that Sam told Mary what happened. "What else did he tell you?" she asked, sheepishly.

"That Dean has been there for you recently" she shrugged "but not in the past. What's been going on with you, Ash?"

* * *

**Mary**

A mother's rage is a scary thing, and right now I couldn't help but be angry at Sam and Dean for what they put Ashley through. "Sam, Dean! Get your asses in here!" I bellowed from the kitchen.

"Shit" Dean whispered "you feel a lecture coming on?"

"Sadly, guess we aren't old enough to get away from this" Sam chuckled. "Yeah, 'sup Mom?"

I only stared at my two grown boys while they leaned up against the wall in front of me. "What happened? What made Ash break?"

Dean looked down at his booted feet while Sam continued to stare at me with watery eyes. "I uh, I did this" Dean said taking a step forward "Sammy got- he got stabbed and died. So I sold my soul for him."

"It wasn't all Dean" Sam piped up, matching his brother's step forward. "After they collected Dean, I ran off with a demon and left Ash alone at Bobby's."

"She almost killed herself!" I yelled at the two grown men in front of me.

"That's enough, Mom!" Ashley yelled from behind me. She jumped off the counter and was holding the bottle so tight I could have sworn it was about ready to shatter in her hand.

"Ash, they weren't there for you." She looked at me before going to stand in front of her two brothers with hands crossed across her chest. The beer was now held by the neck and swinging from side to side, tapping Sam's arm each time it swung out she was so close to them. My kids grew up into amazing people, but they weren't there for each other, not the way I hoped for, not the way I thought they were when I sacrificed my spirit for Sam and Ashley in that house.

"We all made bad choices. I've walked out on them too! Too many times to count. What matters now is we are here for each other. I love ya, I do, but this is my battle now and it is over. I've been with them all my life, I know everything they've done for me. You only saw one instance and heard a lot more bad than good."

Ashley's speech had earned her a hug from both of her brothers from behind. She was right, Sam and Dean had her back now and she trusted them with everything she had. "I-I'm sorry" I found myself saying "I had no clue."

* * *

A rustle of wings interrupted a family dinner, but announced Castiel had finally answered Dean's calls. "Uncle Cas!" Justin beamed as he jumped up from the table to hug the angel's legs.

"Justin" the stern yet friendly voice acknowledged the boy. Castiel reached down slowly to pull Justin's head closer to his leg just as he had seen Dean do many times previously.

"What is it, Cas" Ashley greeted from her spot across the table with a smile.

"The war" he started "it's been postponed. The rouge angels have found their way back home."

Everyone around the table let out a sigh of relief and allowed smiles to form on their face again. "Join us, Cas" Dean said gesturing the awkward angel to the seat next to him.

"I shouldn't," he refused "this is your family time."

"You are family, Cas" Ben spoke up since he saved most of these guys from dying more than once each.

Ashley smiled at the wisdom Ben suddenly showed. He had remained quiet for a while since he had found out Dean really was his Dad; it was nice to hear him talk again. "He's right," she chuckled "please stay, Cas? Justin did just call you 'Uncle' you know?"

"As you wish" he replied flatly as he sat down next to Dean and John.

**AN: Sorry it is a little short, but enjoy in the meantime! Tell me what you think in a review...always appreciated and let's me know what I should add, fix, or get rid of! ~Ash**


	17. Chapter 17: Familiar Situations

_**Familiar Situations**_

Ashley was hesitant to leave her parents to go on this hunt only because she was worried they wouldn't be here when she got back. But there was something close to a rougarou running loose in Oregon and there was no way she was going to miss this one. Castiel had promised to keep John and Mary around until she got back, so the three hunters finally piled into the Mustang and gunned it north.

"Alright, so you sure it's not a skin walker?" Dean threw back at his brother.

"Yup, more that the heart is missing" he replied matter of factually. "Actually, not much was left" he threw in with a grimace.

Dean took a quick glance at the file Sam tossed up to the front and couldn't help but feel slightly nauseous at the images. "Awesome. We got a lot of word ahead of us" Dean sighed as he sank down into his seat.

"Good, I could use a challenge" Ashley said as he pounded her steering wheel.

Dean glanced back at Sam with a worried look on his face. Whenever Ashley got this way, she became reckless and didn't think about consequences. Sam shook his head back at Dean before turning to get settled in for a nap in the backseat. "You good, Killer?" Dean whispered over to Ashley once he heard Sam's breath even out.

"No, I missed Mom and I didn't even know her" Ashley admitted in the privacy she had grown up with.

"You grew up with three dudes, then got two sons" Dean laughed "it's kind of expected that you need a mom, next thing you know you're balls will be bigger than ours!"

"Shut it, Dean" Ashley smirked over her shoulder.

"Mm, you better believe me here" Dean sighed "you just heard the same thing I told Ben once."

Dean was right, she was a Mom herself and here she was rushing into a hunt just looking to get done with it. Ashley knew she needed to listen to her big brother here and not her erratic emotions.

* * *

Sam finally pinned down who the rougarou was and drove them over to the house in the Mustang. Apparently he had been living under the radar as a fireman in the city and eating those who wouldn't make it out of the fire. "But how has he been hiding the fact he looks like Freddy Kruger?" Ashley yawned as she sat up in the front seat outside his house.

"He's uh, claiming he got pretty burned up back at his old job."

"Of course he did. Damn this guy is good" she said before taking another sip of now cold coffee from the thermos.

"Yup" Sam sighed "really fricken smart. We gotta watch our backs in there."

"Yes sir."

"And we gotta go in now" Dean interrupted with a simple head nod up in the window. _Freddy_ had finally turned out the bedroom light, and that was their cue to flood into the house. Ashley followed Sam out the driver's side to the trunk, where they loaded up on homemade blow torches and flare guns. She was still itching to run in there ahead of her protective brother and finish this Freddy Kruger off alone, but Dean talked her down to just following him in.

"Alright, so what's the plan? The last rougarou we dealt with was a nasty son of a bitch" Ashley whispered to the two men standing above her.

"Go in and torch him" Dean shrugged "we aren't gonna try and talk this one into the vegan lifestyle, right Sammy?"

* * *

The case had a messy end, messier than even Ashley was hoping for. _Freddy_ had gotten the drop on the Winchesters and they found themselves in a similar situation to their previous rougarou case.

Sam was thrown into a small closet again with Dean and Ashley both tied up and passed out in the living room somewhere. The sounds of silence coming from the larger space only set his teeth further on the edge. "You better not let a hair on their heads get hurt!" Sam shouted. All he got in response was a sick laugh.

**AN: Are you all on the edges of your seats? I know I am! I'd love to hear theories or what you liked/didn't like! ~Ash**


	18. Chapter 18: Bait and Bite

_**Bait and Bite**_

"You son of a bitch" Sam cried from the closet he was stuck in. The rougarou, Clay, was humming around the living room still, keeping as quiet as he possibly could. "That's my family! What did we ever do to hurt you?"

Clay finally was ready to talk, but he wasn't done torturing the giant stuck in his closet. "You know, the little lady looks like a perfect appetizer. What do ya' think?" Clay looked over Ashley as he tried to swallow the amount of saliva building up in his mouth. "A little barbecue sauce on that shoulder would do great."

Sam couldn't hold his anger in any longer, but no matter how hard he tried, the closet door wouldn't budge. "What the hell did we do to you?"

Sam's last yell was loud enough to break Dean kind of out of his sleep. "Would you just stop yellin' Sammy? You are giving me a damn headache" Dean grumbled from the kitchen table.

"Dean! You okay?" Sam asked, relieved to hear one sibling at least was okay.

"Peachy" he sighed "so is Ash. She's still out through."

"Alright, enough family time" Clay said with a laugh.

* * *

Dean had a front row seat to Ashley's screams once Clay started cutting into her wrists. She was woken up in the cruelest way possible. Sam was pounding against the closet doors, when finally his foot hit a weak point. Clay looked up in time to see Sam aiming a blowtorch at him. His quick reflexes allowed him to cut Ashley free and used as a human shield. "You try and crisp me, Sammy boy and you'll hit your little sister too! I've always liked my meat a little bloody over cooked."

Sam looked over Ashley's fear ridden face and into Clay's deformed one. Dean was struggling against his own ropes, but was tied too tight. "She's a big girl" Sam said finally looking down at his sister.

"Sammy no, don't do this" she begged her taller brother.

"Damn, he really does have a family problem" Clay laughed into Ashley's ear.

"No man," Dean said from the coffee table "you got it all wrong. Our Daddy didn't pass down some fugly STD!"

Clay turned to face the sprawled Winchester still tied to the kitchen table. Absent mindedly, he tossed Ashley to the side and almost right into Sam's arms. "Where you really going to burn through me?" she sobbed into his chest.

"Nope, I had a plan" Sam shrugged as he put Ashley down in the corner behind him. "Clay! You forgot something" Sam hollered from in front of Ashley before he lit up the deformed man.

"Damn, why do I always get tied to the table? They are never long enough" Dean whined as he was untied by Sam.

"Hey, at least you don't get locked in a closet" Sam chuckled once Dean was free.

"Heh, yeah cuz you always have to come out-"

"Shut it, Dean" Sam warned with a playful look in his eye.

* * *

It turned out while Sam was stuck in the closet, Clay had also taken a bite out of Ashley's shoulder before slicing her wrists. Once Sam got her all bandaged up, Dean went out to go get some food.

"Sammy?" she whispered out to the man in front of the laptop.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" he jumped, ready to help in any way.

"What uh, what exactly was your plan? Looked like you were ready to fry me."

"Come on" he smirked "I would never do that! I was just trying to sike him out."

Ashley knew better than to argue with Sam, but she wasn't buying what was being thrown at her. She smiled over at Sam before flipping the small box TV over to some day time show. Ashley knew what she saw in Sam's eyes and it wasn't just some way to freak Clay out- it was actually him and she would need to get it out before he did something to either Ben or Justin.

Dean finally got back with some greasy fast food. As he pulled out a container of fries, he was thinking about the comment Sam made while Clay was holding Ashley as a shield. There was something off about how he acted, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Grubs up!" he announced, still thinking about if Sam was really okay.

Ashley crawled over across the bed to grab a burger, fries, and a strawberry shake before settling down cross legged near where Sam and Dean were setting up to eat. She hesitated before biting into her burger and couldn't help to hide a shutter that went through her body.

"You okay killer?" Dean asked around a full mouth.

"Man, I just hate rougarous. So fucking gross" she chuckled before taking a bite out of her burger.

**AN: Oh no, what's wrong with our Sammy? Comments and theories welcome in the review section! Hope you enjoyed reading and will stick around for the next chapter. ~Ash**


	19. Chapter 19: Home Sweet Homeagain

_**Home Sweet Home**_  
Ashley drove back down to California and was relieved to see Justin out playing with Bobby while Max, Ben, and John were all huddled under the pickup's hood. As the Mustang purred up the driveway, John and Justin both perked up. "You're home!" Justin cheered as he ran over to the driver's side first, where he was greeted by Dean there much to Justin's surprise

"Yeah, hey buddy" Sam said picking up the excited boy into a hug after Dean had given the boy a ruffled hair do.

"You do have a nice car" John greeted the still seated Ashley. "Takin' good care of her?"

"Yes sir" she answered without moving from her spot. "Dean's been giving me a hand too."

"Good" he said as he patted his oldest son's shoulder as he walked past.

"Why are you still siting, Ash?" Ben asked as he came out with Mary behind him.

"Long, gross story bud" she smiled up at the four adults now looking down at her.

"Buck up, Ash. T'was just a rougarou" John smirked as he reached down to offer her a hand up.

"Kinda hard to get over being an appetizer" she cringed as John helped her get steady on her feet. Dean and Mary both tried to stifle a laugh, but failed and earned a strong glare from John and Ashley both.

"Wow, like father like daughter" Max said as he went up to give his girlfriend a hug and help her into the cool house.

* * *

Ben was sitting down next to Ashley while the Winchesters were catching up on everything they had to fight once John died. To say Patriarchal Winchester was upset was an understatement when he heard about his children each had their spin in Hell and even been down to Purgatory. "You stupid sons of a bitch" John turned to his two sons. "How could you let the damn apocalypse start and how could you say yes to Lucifer?"

"Hey! We tried" Ashley yelled back to her father. "Dean had no choice; it was that or to keep getting tortured himself, you know how that goes! And Sammy, we tried to talk him down, believe me! But he is as bone stubborn as an ass."

Everyone was taken by surprise by Ashley's sudden outburst, especially Sam. "She's right you know" Bobby said to John in an attempt to stop the tongue lashing he could sense was coming Ashley's way. "After you climbed outta Hell gates, we were stuck with your worst nightmares livin' with the civilians, and often in them!"

"Don't mean they had to turn stupid" John spat as he went to grab another beer.

"I expected him to be happier with Mom around" Dean muttered into his hands before standing up himself.

"Wait, Dean. I wanna talk about something with you" Ashley said pushing herself up to a standing position.

"Huh? Yeah sure" he said continuing out towards the Impala and opposite direction John had just gone. The car ride to Dean's new runaway was long and silent. Ashley knew she wasn't the reason for his mood, but she wasn't comfortable opening her mouth until he had at least two beers in him.

"You know, you can't let him get to you" Ashley said breaking the silence once Dean finished his first beer. "He's still John Winchester."

"I know" Dean grunted "just pictured our family would be normal if Mom never died. Thought it was going to be easy" he finished with a choke.

"Family isn't supposed to be easy. We are supposed to hate each other's guts, Justin is supposed to drive us to the bottle and Ben is supposed to be coming home drunk, high, and smelling of sex at two in the morning. Instead we've been to Heave, Hell, and the places in between. Sam's been turned soulless demon vamp, and you are wandering around with a Biblical plague attached to your arm! Our lives suck, but we are relatively normal for hunters."

Dean looked up shocked at the sudden insight she had bottled up, but was in complete agreement with what she said. "Damn, you sure you weren't Sigmund Freud in your past life?" he chuckled after draining his second beer.

"Nope, not in the least" she winked "but this isn't why I tagged along. It's about Sammy and how he looked past me."

"Like he didn't have a soul again" Dean nodded. "I was just hoping I was wrong."

* * *

Castiel sat invisible to Dean and Ashley in the booth tucked in the back of the bar. He was afraid of the possibility that Sam may lose his soul again, but he thought it would take longer than this. _This is my fault, again. I have done so much to hurt this family, including signing them up for this war against their will. Justin is only a child, Ashley is so fragile- neither should have to go through this. _It took all of Castiel's self-restraint to keep himself hidden from the Winchesters. If he was to appear to them now, he would feel so ashamed for all he has done in the past to this family. _I wouldn't even be able to look Dean in the eye. He has already forgiven me for too much already; I cannot ask him for this as well._

**AN: Hope everyone enjoyed! Tell me what you think in the comments, always up for hearing your opinions! ~Ash**


	20. Chapter 20: Soulenoscopy

_**Soulenoscopy**_

Ashley had spent hours sitting down with Bobby and Castiel in Max's home, hoping to figure out what was going on in Sam's head. Bobby was stumped as to what could have caused Sam's sudden attitude change, but Castiel had a theory that maybe he was losing touch with his humanity again. "W-what do you mean? Like he's off the wagon?" Ashley stuttered out to the angel. That was Ashley's worst fear, that her brother had begun to chug demon blood faster than a meth addict could load up another needle.

"I doubt it" Castiel answered softly "I am only saying perhaps his soul is losing power."

"You mean when you swapped places with him in that mental institution?"

"Yes, exactly."

"So go clean him out again" Bobby barked from the background. This huge kid was as much his son as he was Ashley's brother- there was no way Bobby was going to let Sam spiral downwards to the shell of a man he became after being pulled out of Hell while he was alive and could do something about it.

"It's not that easy. It'll have effects on me as well" Castiel pointed out.

"You did this to him!" Ashley yelled into the angel's stone face. "You broke his wall and lead him to insanity when you decided to play God! This is your responsibility, Cas! And you will fix your mistake, again."

Max had just walked in from work and heard everything Ashley had just shouted. He always knew she could be protective of her family, but he had never seen that trait in full bloom. "So, this is why Dean calls you Killer?" Max chuckled in an attempt to ease the tension getting ready to blow out his windows and roof.

"Kinda, she also had a fascination with sharp things at a young age" Bobby answered for Ashley.

"You will fix him, Cas" she ordered "or at least make sure he's not just going through a late change in attitude and reach for the juice again!"

* * *

Ashley had too much pent up anger inside of her, so she went straight for the garage and started wailing on the heavy bag chained up to the rafters. She must have been going at it for hours, still in her jeans but now in a sport's bra, when a set of heavy footsteps came up behind her. "Mind if I join you?" a deep voice asked from where the footsteps stopped.

"Fine" she said throwing a glance back to her father. It was a hot California day, but John still wore a pair of worn in jeans and flannel over shirt. It seemed the Winchester boys had a problem with showing skin, but even Dean gave in sometimes and would shed the shirt and put on some workout shorts.

"So, why you out here?" John asked once he bumped fists with Ashley.

"Just needed some space" she panted while she blocked jab after jab from her father.

"Get like this a lot?" he smirked when Ashley was able to land a hard hit on his ribs.

"Why do you suddenly care?"

John was taken aback by the anger behind his youngest words. "I always did, Ash."

"Bull" Dean laughed, startling both fighters. "You weren't ever around, so you wouldn't know how often she 'got like this'."

"I was trying to protect my kids" John explained calmly, but still keeping his eyes locked with Ashley's.

"No you weren't, Dad" Ashley panted, dropping her hands "that's what I'm doing! I don't bring my rage to my kids, I keep it in here and focus it on a bag. You would bring it back, and focus it on him or Jack Daniels."

John turned to Dean for confirmation and felt his heart drop to his stomach when he saw the small nod and broken look in his oldest son's eyes. He never remembered hitting Dean, but he always remembered wondering where the bruises and cut lips came from on his face. "I tried."

"I know" Dean said stepping in closer to his father "that's why we need your help with Sammy."

John had just stood there and listened to the recap of Sam's mental history. He was floored by the fact that Dean and Death had become friends and how Dean was able to get a wall put up, then he got pissed at Castiel, the friendly angel, for breaking it down during his run at God. "So, can't Castiel stick his hand in and feel around for his soul?" John muttered.

"Sure, just gotta get Sasquatch to sit still long enough" Dean replied.

"I'll handle that" John threw over his shoulder as well as the hand wrappings as he made a bee-line for the small house across the street to start planning their plan of attack.

* * *

Sam was real reluctant to sit down across from Castiel's bony fingers again. Once he saw John's intense stare as well as Ashley's worried one, he gave in and sat down. "There's nothing wrong with me" he chuckled as he collapsed in the armchair in Max's open armchair.

"Well, we'll just have to check" John said giving his belt over to Sam to bite down during his angelic exam after Sam had taken a large swing out of the bottle of Fireball Ashley brought offer to take the edge off.

Sam's screams set Ashley's teeth on edge, but she couldn't just walk out and leave him alone- after all she was the one who put in the order for the test. "I'm done here" Castiel said removing his hand from Sam's chest cavity and unrolling his sleeve.

"So, what did you find?" John said as he watched Ashley remove the old belt from Sam's mouth and pour more Fireball in his mouth followed by water.

"Most of his soul is there" Cas nodded.

"Wait, most?"

"It's all he's ever had since he was reunited with it."

Ashley felt a lump from in her throat; what did she just do to her brother? "I-I am so sorry, Sammy" she whispered into his ear while she helped him up.

"It's fine Ash," he cringed as he got up on his feet "you were worried. I did something stupid."

John had walked out of the small house once he got his belt back and left his two youngest children in the living room. It was hours later when Mary wandered into Max's house to bring him his folded clothes when she found both Sam and Ashley asleep on the two seater couch. Sam had cramped his long legs onto the too small couch and put his head on her lap. Ashley had fallen asleep with a hand tangled in Sam's too long brown hair and the other supporting her slumped head on the armrest. Mary came rushing back to the big house still holding Max's clean clothes and tears now in her eyes.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Dean said concerned when the front door slammed shut and his mother was suddenly sobbing.

"Nothing, baby. I'm proud of you three" she sniffled as she flashed the picture she snapped on her new old fashioned flip-phone Dean had bought for her. Nobody bothered to disturb the two, even when the sun went down for the night and Max came home for work. It wasn't until a howl around midnight broke everyone out of their sleep.

"Shit" Ashley whispered when the sound had scared her awake "you hear that, Sammy?"

"Go check on Justin" he barked as he loaded a round into his Taurus that was always pressed into the small of his back and ran out ahead of Ashley along with the seasoned hunter, who had been crashing in the spare in Max's house.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed, tell me what you think please! ~Ash**


	21. Chapter 21:Snack on the Go

_**Snack on the Go**_

Mary joined the hunt for the howler while Ashley barricaded herself and Justin in the child's room. Any other family would have said that was a wolf or a coyote, but the Winchesters could tell the slight difference. A werewolf's howl was one riddled with pain and with the slightest tinge of a human cry for help. She was itching to go track down the creature with her parents and brother, but someone had to take care of Justin. Ben was still unsure about his shots and Max wasn't sure on how to best protect someone, so that fell on Ashley's poor, tired shoulders. She eased herself down on the bed next to Justin when she thought he was sleeping. She just needed to sit down, she wouldn't lay down and risk falling asleep. "What's happening out there, Ashie?" Justin yawned as he climbed into Ashley's lap next to the revolver loaded with silver bullets. Guess he was awake.

"Nothing baby, go back to sleep" she muttered with a faraway look in her eyes. There was a quick tentative knock on the solid wood door before it was opened a crack.

"Gun down?" Max asked from around the thickness.

"Yeah, lemme open it up" she sighed as she sat up without moving Justin while he drifted back to sleep. She had gotten better at that with the amount of time she spent with the child while he was growing up. Of course now that he was older it was slightly harder. "How's it going out there?"

"Fine," he whispered "the guys went into the trees while your Mom and Ben are on guard with shotties."

"Man, I'd love to see that" Ashley chuckled as she settled back down into a seated position in Justin's twin bed and willed her ears to hear better. Outside, she could just barely make out Mary's soft voice and Ben's sweet laugh over the blowing wind. She was worried about her boys, but perhaps the silence was best. Ashley allowed her eyes to close on that thought, but she didn't dare join Max and Justin in sleepy town.

It couldn't have been more than a few hours later when Ashley's eyes popped open to the sound of a gunshot in the distance. "Mom!" she yelled as she scrambled towards the cracked window.

"We are fine" Mary replied quickly. "Ben and I'll go check on the boys. It's fine, Ash, just have an eye on the front!"

Mary and Ben had gone running into the tree line only a couple minutes ago, but there hadn't been any sign of anyone and Ashley was officially on edge. "Babe, you gotta sit down! You're wearing a groove into the floor" Max chuckled as he slid up behind his pacing girlfriend.

"No, something's not right, Max. I can feel it. Something happened, something bad! The energy around here isn't right all of a sudden." Max turned Ashley to face him and that is when he saw the raw fear in her usually strong face. This is the side of Ashley Winchester Max only heard rumors about.

"The sun will be up soon. Werewolves don't stay that way, right?" he purred into her ear once she was in close for the hug he knew she desperately needed.

"Yeah" Ashley confirmed for Max as she melted into his arms.

"So then you leave Justin with me and go check things out. Alright, baby?"

Ashley nodded as she relaxed even more into Max's strong arms. She was quickly taken out of that embrace however, when a familiar voice hollered out her name. "Open up, we need your hands!"

Max quickly released Ashley and followed her downstairs. "It's not as bad as it looks" John cringed as Sam and Dean eased him down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"My god, it that a bite?" Ashley gawked momentarily at the mark on her father's neck.

"Yeah" he whispered "b-but I'm okay. We can talk to Castiel, o-or maybe there's a cure like the vamp one."

Ashley was weary and about ready to crumble under the emotional anvil that just dropped on her back. She started to clean the extra blood around the chunk missing while Mary worked on the scratches littering his scared arms.

"Are you two okay?" Ashley threw over her shoulder to Dean leaning against the fridge.

"Better than him" he whispered.

"What? What happened!" she barked while still focusing all her attention on John's bite.

"Just one mad son of a bitch. Bobby got him trapped after he freaked on us. He's getting some information out of him now."

"I think we may have a problem though. He was a newly turned one, that's obvious" Sam interjected. "So, that means we have at least one old timer… best case scenario."

Ashley was thinking the same thing but didn't want to admit to it. Admitting it would make it real and mean they were suddenly not so safe here again. "Wait, I can fix this" Ashley realized just as she put the last bandage on John. She found a slightly complicated spell the other day while she was flipping through an old Wiccan book Bobby gave her and her brothers years ago.

"Fix? How?" Mary asked a little too excitedly once she realized what Ashley said.

"A spell. It's kind of complicated and slightly dangerous, but it's better than watching Dad turn tonight."

"What do we need?" Sam asked as he handed Ashley a pad and pencil to write down the ingredients.

* * *

Sam and Ben ran out to get what Ashley would need while she went upstairs to try and take a nap to replenish her energy as best as possible. She was too nervous and worked up to just fall asleep and Dean needed to watch Justin, so Max climbed into the bed next to his girlfriend. He wrapped his long body around Ashley's short, curled up one and pulled her close against his bare chest.

"Just like old times, Ash. Back in Louisiana before I knew what I do now" he comforted the tense woman in front of him.

"Thank you for sticking with me" she sighed as she finally relaxed against her man.

"I wouldn't dream of anything else."

Ashley fell into a restful sleep next to Max and dreamt of life as a civilian. Her family was whole and happy; Ben was dating a pretty brunette while Justin was playing with kids his own age, instead of Sam and Dean. The best part of her dream was the ring on her finger and her swollen belly. Ashley could feel the baby move inside of her and was woken up by a strange muscle jerk. She was still drowsy and quickly forgot about that dream, but under Max's hand, she felt a warmth- which she mentally attributed to the warmth from his body temperature.

**AN: Wow! When will things ever go right?! Stay tuned and tell me what you think as always! ~Ash**


	22. Chapter 22: Task at Hand

**_Task at Hand_  
POV Change! So as always watch for section headings!**_  
_

**John**

No way I can let myself turn into one of the monsters I spent my life ganking. This was a horrible curse, I understand the natural instinct to want to survive, but this life sucks and I haven't even changed yet. What is going to happen to me when if I do change? Am I going to hurt my family? Am I going to kill anyone? Pretty sure there is no way to stifle the hunger that's gnawing at the back of my throat already, pretty sure this is just how I'd feel normally, during the day. If Ashley fails I have to find my own escape.

"John, are you okay?" Mary whispered as she peeked tentatively around the corner. Dammit, even my own wife was afraid of me. "Justin wanted to say hello to you, if that is okay."

"I'm sorry, Mary." She looked down on me for only a second before sitting down next to me on the pull out bed. I'm happy Justin wasn't with her, because I did not want him to remember me this way, I wanted him to remember the handful of times I spent time with him as a human.

"What for, John?"

"For screwing up again. I'm putting you in danger…again." I always blamed myself for what happened in Sammy's nursery. If I didn't have that last beer I wouldn't have fallen asleep in the armchair in front of the TV and I could have gone in to check on Sammy. Mary would have been alive and the kids would have had their mother and a normal goddamn life.

"I let that demon in. You were the one put in danger by my family's lifestyle. Plus, I trust you won't hurt me, John."

I hope she's right more than I hope Ashley completes the spell right now.

* * *

Dean and Sam were to hold John down while Ashley completed the spell. Everyone had a job to do, except for Justin who was staying over at a schoolmate's house for the night. He spent his last moments with John along with Dean. John and Justin were happy just watching Tarzan while Dean sat on the floor behind his father's chair sipping whiskey out of a large glass, just there to make sure no danger fell on Justin in the arms of a new werewolf.

"Alright, Bobby?" Ashley croaked.

"Yes, little lady." Bobby was set with the task of helping her finish the spell, no matter what.

"You sure you're ready? I have to have complete access to your energy. I promise I'll give it back" Ashley asked again. What she had to do was dangerous, more so for her, but of course for Bobby as well. She expected to have to draw a lot from him, the spell was going to be hard for her to complete since she was dealing with a strong curse.

"Open bar tab" he smiled as he took his sport on her right and tapped his arm. Max was to say on her left and help either her when she faltered or the Winchester sons hold John down. Ben was to man the gun behind her in case John was stuck in the wolf form. Mary was there only to try and ground John, being as she was the only one whom he cared enough for to stay calm for.

"Okay then" Ashley cleared her throat as she tied her hair back in a messy bun on top of her head "we are ready!" John looked into Ashley's eyes perhaps one last time and couldn't help but feel bad for her. He had always been the toughest on her simply because she grew up to look exactly like the love of his life, especially when he first met Mary. Now her hazel eyes were slightly burned around the iris, her once thick hair was thinning and starting to dull from age. Her golden skin was marked, puckered, and marred- some even had wrinkles. Ashley was 35 years old now and a trainer for Ben as well as a protective mother head for her family.

As Ashley began to chant in Latin, John felt his heart break and tears form in his eyes. He looked down from his only daughter's face and caught sight of a small change he never saw before. "Could it be-" he started to say, but was unable to finish as the spell had started to force him into his first transformation.

* * *

**Ashley**

Dad started to say something to me, but I couldn't stop the spell now, it was too late. Sam and Dean were already starting to have a hard time holding him down, so Max left my side to aid while Mom kept talking to him. She was saying something about her reaction to the Impala instead of some hippie van when the blood started to drip down my nose.

I couldn't stop, this spell had to be finished and I had to know what Dad was trying to say to me. With a squeeze from Bobby, I focused on drawing on all the white energy from him as I safely could and mentally sprinkled it along with the herbs over the brown patches of my father's energy. For someone who always appeared angry and grumpy, Bobby sure was a well-balanced guy and for the most part filled with good positive energy. _As if I ever doubted that_.

A crack broke my concentration slightly and I saw Sam get thrown against the cold marble counter top. There was a steady flow of blood that was coming out of the gash along his forehead, but a moan escaped his busted lip and I was able to focus back on my wolfen father in front of me.

I sprinkled more of the dry concoction onto the dark sports in his aura as Bobby gently supported me from behind. I wasn't close to being done, but I could feel both my energy and Bobby's were depleting quickly. "Ben" I panted "give Bobby the gun and come here."

Once he was supporting me the same way Bobby was, I only took a small amount of his burning white energy and added it to the herbs I was blessing again. Max and Dean were starting to fail at holding the now fully transitioned John down and Bobby was still holding me semi-steady. This was a disaster, I was failing and nothing more could be done. Another cry broke through my mental block and sent a shiver up my spine. This time Dean was being grabbed and lifted from the tile floor by his neck.

Max had to let go and was struggling to get Dad's talloned fingers off Dean's neck while Mom was still repeating something in Dad's ear over and over again. I had lost, nothing was going to change him back- that was clear. I turned to look at Bobby and saw he already had a finger on the trigger to shoot John dead, yet I still creamed at the sound of the gunshot, surprised that he actually fired. There was a split second of silence when everyone looked over at John Winchester. In that second I could have sworn I saw him mouth "thank you" before letting his eyelids drop closed. Everyone had to have seen that or it was simply my imagination.

* * *

**Castiel**

John was dead again and it left his sons hurt and daughter an emotional disaster just like her Mother. Nobody blamed Bobby, nor could they, for what he had to do. In fact the three children to the deceased were relieved he was the one to do it. Must have been that threat Bobby Singer once voiced if John ever came back onto his property, of course this time it wasn't a shotgun round of rock salt, it was a single silver slug buried deep in his still heart.

Max and Ben were both frozen in place by all the chaos. Around them, the world was finally moving in slow motion instead of fast forward. They knew what to do now, so they cleaned up in silence and placed John on the table again until the strength was gathered to build a pyre and let John move onto wherever he was destined to go now.

I knew it was straight to Purgatory this time, because of that pesky bite, but I still prayed John would be resourceful like Dean had and find his way out. John Winchester was a hero, even though many people could argue that. His heart was filled with good intentions and he did save many innocent lives, that was more than enough to earn him a corner of Heaven to fill with his own memories and good thoughts. He deserved to be able to drive the Impala next to the yellow snake on the black pavement. All John had to do was get himself there- the rest I will do for him.

**AN: I hope everyone is doing okay, tell me what you're feeling and thinking! I want to hear, I did write this to get a reaction. Was I wrong? Was that ingenious? What do you think will be in John's heaven if he ever makes it? Tell me please in a review!  
****Almost done with this installment, keep an eye open for the name of the next :) ~Ash**


	23. Chapter 23: Good News at a Bad Time

_**Good News at Bad Time**_

It had been a couple weeks since John died and the entire household was on edge. With Justin losing his Grandpa John, he refused to let his two father's out of his sight…which made hunting the other werewolf that turned John so much harder. Without fail, once Mary put Justin to bed, Sam, Dean, and Ashley would pack up to chase down the latest lead Bobby stumbled on.

As Ashley slept in the backseat of the Impala, Dean and Sam continued to watch a rundown house a pack seemed to be living in. "Do you think Dad's back upstairs?" Sam whispered while he continued to stare into the binoculars.

"He did get bit, we just happened to be the ones to gank him."

"So you think he's in purgatory? Will he be alright?"

Dean shrugged in response and threw the mostly empty thermos back at Ashley. "Yeah" she yawned as she stretched to grab the thermos that was now rolling around on the floor. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Sam is giving me a headache" Dean grunted as he reached for his own pair of binoculars to peer into the house.

* * *

The stake out was another bust and the three Winchester siblings were dead tired. Justin was all over Sam and Dean as soon as he heard the engine pulling up in the drive way, making it almost impossible for them to sleep. Finally Sam gave in and let Justin take his afternoon nap in his room so he could also get a couple hours of rest.

Ashley gave in to Max's pleas and allowed him to pull her across the street to stay with him until she felt rested. While she slept curled up in a ball, Max couldn't help but play with her long blond hair. She wasn't anything like the woman he met years ago on the run from her problems and brothers. Now, Ashley was getting old and carrying everyone else's problems on her thin shoulders. "I love ya, Ash" Max smiled down on his lovely angel "and I wanna marry you some day."

"So you go the coward road?" Ashley mumbled into the pillow she was using.

"I just didn't wanna wake you."

"You didn't, my stomach's upset. I'm going down to the drug store."

"Can I come?" Max asked with his sweet puppy dog eyes. "I miss you."

Before Ashley could answer she was sent running to the bathroom as her stomach started to retch and was unable to answer.

"Babe, you okay?" Max said through the closed door. The sounds of coughing and struggling to catch a breath were unnerving to him, but Ashley was a big girl and could take care of her business all on her own, _right?_

Ashley was still retching into the porcelain bowl when she started her mental checklist of what could have caused this. "No, not again" she sobbed into her folded arms on the cool rim of the bowl. She wasn't sure if she was crying from happiness or truly was disappointed.

"Not again what? Ashley!" Max said as be barged into the small bathroom.

"Maxie" she cried as she reached up to the burly shirtless man in front of her, the one who truly had her heart.

"I'm here baby. What's wrong? Should I get Dean o-or Sam?"

"No, I-"

"What about your Mom?"

"No, Max stop. I-I gotta get something first to make sure, but I think it's real this time."

"Ash, you're freaking me out" Max said against the top of Ashley's sweaty head "what is going on?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be an honest Mom!"

To say Max was floored was an understatement of the decade! Of course he wanted to be a father, but he was worried about what this was going to do with Ashley. No way was she going to be hunting and no way Dean was going to leave her alone for a second. Sam was going to be worse, somehow. "We gotta tell your brothers" Max rationalized "and they are gonna kill me."

Ashley still felt nauseous and was using Max as a support, but to hear he was still worried about being murdered by his two in-laws made her smile despite the bile rising in her throat. "I'll protect you, as long as you get me a test and some damn Sprite."

"Yes ma'am" Max smiled as he scooped Ashley up bridal style and walked her out to his truck. "Consider me glued to your side."

"You'll need to learn how to hunt then, or Sam and Dean really are going to kill you" she smirked as she put her sweaty head down into the hallow space between Max's neck and shoulder.

* * *

The test came back positive, as expected. When Ashley asked for a family meeting everyone just stared at her like she had gone crazy. "Don't tell me you and Max are getting a divorce" Ben chuckled as he plopped himself down in the closest seat. "I just started liking the guy."

"What's a divorce?" Justin asked innocently as he sat down on the floor between his two standing dads, who both had their arms crossed and looked about ready to beat Max to a pulp together.

"Nothing you gotta worry about" Sam laughed at Dean's confused expression on how he could answer that.

"No guys! Shut it." Ashley smiled. "Mom, help me out?"

"Boys you listen to your sister or so help me!" she scolded.

"Thanks," Ashley sighed "so we uh, we got something to tell you."

"Better not be-" Dean growled at Max.

"We are pregnant!" Ashley interrupted her big brother.

The look on everyone's face was the best part of the announcement. Ben and Justin's face were almost mirror images of confusion and pain, while Sam and Dean looked angry and excited all at the same time. Mary was staring at her daughter with huge tears running down her face with Bobby slack jawed behind her.

"Say something, please?" Ashley whispered from under Max's heavy arm.

"Congrats Little One" Sam said as he walked towards his baby sister and wrapped his arms around her. By the way his arms felt, Ashley was sure he was still trying to keep himself from hitting Max.

"Yeah, congrats" Dean threw in as he continued to stare at Max.

"Baby girl, I'm so happy for you" Mary cried as she picked her way towards Ashley.

"You better take care of her, boy!" Bobby barked at Max, standing right next to Dean.

"I plan to sir. Would you please take the time to teach me how?" Max replied with a thick Louisiana accent.

"Idjit" Bobby muttered as he opened up a beer for the new father.

Ben and Justin were the last two to walk up to their mother of sorts, both with a little sadness in their eyes. "You two will still be mine, you got it?" she clarified around the lump in her throat.

"But, my business partner?" Ben asked with a small voice.

"I got your 6, just gotta take a break for a bit, Sam will hold the place till I can get back out in the field."

"Promise?"

"Always."

"Can I still sleep with you and Dad tonight?" Justin asked against Ashley's legs.

"You bet bug" Ashley replied once she got a nod from Max saying he understood and one from Dean saying she was welcomed back.

"But it's gonna get weird once you start rounding out" he smirked as he gave his little sister a hug.

"I'll set up an appointment for you" Mary said to Ashley once she stopped laughing at Dean's comment.

"Thank you, Mommy" she cried "I'm glad you're here for this this time."

**The End**

Stay tuned for our next installment _Changed Winchesters_

**AN: Aw! What do you think? I want to thank everyone who read this story and those who left a review to me! ladybugsmomma left a review about what John's heaven would look like- anyone interested in a one shot for this? Next story, first chapter will be posted later on tonight! ~Ash**


End file.
